Midnight Sun
by Winnieflutters
Summary: Without the Root the Great Tree would fall. In order for it to stand strong, changes must be made. Namikaze Naruto must battle for his own identity as he steps out of the shadows to bring the teachings of the Root to the very top. He has no room for weakness or hesitation. When you slit a man's throat in the name of the village, you do not falter. Even if it is your own.
1. Chapter 1

Midnight Sun

**Greetings all, welcome to the first instalment of Midnight Sun. I don't proclaim to be a fantastic writer but I hope some of you will give my story a chance. It's an idea inspired by a story I read a while ago and I couldn't get this idea out of my mind. It's called 'The Sealed Kunai' by Kenchi618 which you can read here:**

** s/6051938/1/The-Sealed-Kunai**

**Also, I don't own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does.**

**Without further ado, please read on and hopefully you'll review and follow at the end. **

He sat atop the head of his idol, Senju Tobirama, his head hooded and deep blue eyes shadowed as he stared out across the village for yet another night in a row, a lone golden lock could be seen billowing gently as a light breeze caressed his face. Slowly, he drew his hand up in front of his face to inspect the small item in the palm of his hand and just as he brought it into the light, his crimson speckled irises gazing intently at it, the small device came to life with the sound of laboured breathing and a hint of urgent satisfaction in a distant voice that brought a smirk to the small, 7 year old boy's face.

"Subject spotted atop the Hokage Monument! All units in place! Squad 4 moving into position, Subject unaware and surrounded. Awaiting orders, sir!?"

"Bring him in, Lizard. This has gone on long enough."

"Hai, Sir! All units. Repeat. ALL UNITS! MOVE IN!"

The young boy shifted up into a relaxed standing position and raised his head ever so slightly.

"I don't think so."

It was a simple enough statement, whispered confidently into the night. Some might call it just a bit cocky that some 7 year old brat thought he could go up against 24 of the village's elite shinobi, battle hardened warriors trained in all manner of combat and deception, highly revered sworn protectors of the great Konohagakure no Sato- the strongest village in all the 5 nations- led by it's Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.

But as he stretched out on the grass in the blonde's mindscape, the Kyuubi no Kitsune couldn't help but snicker softly to himself as he watched the small radio crumble out of his host's now unclenched fist. There was a damn good reason why it took 24 of the village's so-called _"elite"_ shinobi to catch the little brat after all.

_**"If you aren't going to end their pitiful lives or at least provide some violent entertainment for me, I suggest you make a move Kit" **_he drawled out in the boy's mind, closing his large red eyes and nuzzling his head into his paw as he waited for the boy to decide his next move.

"_Hehehe, don't worry.. I've got this Kurama.__"_

Naruto's voice echoed in his mindscape as he deftly rolled out the way of a desperately flung net, "_though you're right, it's time I ended this". _

Gracefully, he performed two backflips in quick succession, creating some distance between himself and the approaching _"warriors", _and landing in a crouch he slowly brought his hand up into the ram seal, causing the Anbu to pause momentarily and consider what his next move could be- it was usually rather unpleasant for those tasked to bring the child in.

"Just what is he planning now?" a harsh female voice could be heard muttering in an annoyed, fatigued tone.

As it were, she had fallen victim to not one, but two of Uzumaki Naruto's pranks that day, and although it stung her pride to admit it.. she knew to be cautious when trying to detain the village's resident troublemaker.

He was cunning, creative and downright sadistic when it came to his pranks and so it brought her no surprise that she found herself gripping her katana slightly tighter than usual. By now the boy's hand had moved into front position and he could be heard crying out "BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!", prompting a few raised eyebrows from those gathered.

As the smoke cleared, there was a collective sweat-drop as a sickly, deformed version of Naruto could be seen flopped over on the ground, a strange blue pus oozing out of it's eyes.

Naruto, however, didn't seem to have noticed as he proceeded to fling his arms out with a huge grin plastered across his face as he yelled out at them.

"Let's see you bastards stop TWO of me! You lazy, useless, pathetic excuses for ninja! I'll show you! I'll show all of you! I, Uzumaki Naruto- along with my invincible clone- shall be UNSTOP- What the fuck!?"

In all his excitement, the small, energetic boy had failed to notice the unimpressed looks on the gathered shinobi's faces and had at last turned to see the outcome of his latest attempt at making a clone.

In his shock filled stare he was seemingly unprepared as a shadowed figure crept up behind him and quickly bound the boy in ninja wire, to the cheers and relieved sighs of the 23 other shinobi gathered. His angry insults could be heard across most of the northern sector of Konoha as he was dragged off towards the Hokage tower by several rather peeved Anbu.

As the rest of the shinobi present dispersed to continue their duties around the village, two figures were left standing on the monument minutes later, a heavy silence hanging in the air between them.

The Anbu commander eventually turned to face the other man, arms crossed and with a glare that could not be seen but most certainly felt as he slowly began to speak.

"So Dog, where exactly were you when the order was given 3 and ½ hours ago to bring the kid in?".

It was then that the man looked up from the small book he held in his hands, his spiky grey hair somehow defying the laws of gravity as he turned to face his commander and drawled out a response.

"Maa, what's got you all worked up Fox-sama? I was looking for Naruto but then a blind old man called out for help as he had lost his guide dog so, of course, as a shinobi of the Leaf, I had to check every dog collar in Konoha until I found the right dog."

The older man didn't even bother to sigh at the blatant disrespect Dog was showing him, tired and feeling a migraine coming on, he turned on his heel and began to march off back down to the village, pausing momentarily to whisper aloud- certain the younger of the two would hear him-

"This isn't what he would've expected from you, and I'm sure you are aware of that fact.. Kakashi".

With that, he left the grey haired man alone up there, frozen in place, staring blankly after him.

Glancing down, the young Anbu realised he was standing on the carved head of the village's beloved Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato; his sensei, his friend and surrogate father. Looking up into the distance he saw the sun begin to rise, a warm, bright glow of yellow spreading out across the sky that only caused his heart to constrict ever so slightly.

"Forgive me sensei, but Naruto is better off not having someone as broken as I am to raise him. The best I can do is watch over him from the shadows."

The man sighed softly to himself as he looked down at where he stood once more, then performed a shunshin out of the area, not once noticing the pair of cold, crimson speckled blue eyes that had studied him from the shadows of the mountain.

* * *

Sometime later, Sarutobi Hiruzen looked up from the mounds of paperwork on his desk to observe the small, blonde haired child tied up in the middle of his office, surrounded by his finest Anbu, who were all stood at attention. He allowed a small smile to grace his weathered features.

"At ease. I see you have finally brought young Naruto-kun to me, though, I cannot help but wonder why it could possibly have taken so long?"

His voice remained calm, but the look he was giving his soldiers was enough to have them start spluttering incoherently at him when..

"THAT'S BECAUSE I AM SUPER COOL, JIJI! AND ONE DAY I'LL BE SO SUPER SUPER STRONG THAT THEY'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO CATCH ME, BELIEVE IT!"

This brought a warm smile to the man hailed as The Professor's face as he looked down at the excitable boy, who was somehow out of his ties, hands clenched into a fist and held up proudly in the air, grinning back up at the old Kage.

He could only chuckle as he saw the distraught postures of his Anbu once they caught on that the troublesome child was no longer bound, but just before they could tackle the boy to the ground, he raised his hand for them to pause.

"That is quite alright, I would like to speak with young Naruto alone now. Dismissed".

Naruto looked up with wide eyes as the Anbu suddenly vanished from the office and he started to look around for some sign of where they had gone, it was then that he felt the Sandaime gazing warmly at him and turned to face the old man.

"So Jiji, what can I do for you tonight?" he said brightly, glancing distractedly around the room, his eyes slowing down briefly to consider the proudly hung pictures of the previous Hokages before he brought them back to the Sandaime.

"Well Naruto, there is a rather important matter I would like to discuss with you actually, would you like to explain to me why you felt the need to break into the Hyūga compound and dye every item of clothing kept there neon orange?"

The old man was rather impressed with the shocked expression which Naruto managed to pull despite the stern stare he was giving the boy, his ability to deceive would only improve with age.

"Oh WOW! Someone really did that, Jiji? Whoever it was must be a crazy awesome ninja? Do you think you could get them to teach me? Do you? Do you?! Who are these Hyūga anyway? And why don't they like orange? Wait- you don't really think it was MEEE, do you Jiji!?

Hiruzen suddenly found himself at the receiving end of the famed "puppy eyes no jutsu" that children seemed to pick up at a particularly early age these days and couldn't help but cringe as he tore his gaze away from the huge, round, tear lined blue orbs that were staring innocently and intently back at him from beneath those golden locks. He could only sigh as he tried not to make eye contact with the child again.

"Are you saying it was not you, Naruto?" Really, he was getting too old for 's endless pranks were only turning the council against him even more and adding greatly to the already towered stacks of paperwork that the Sandaime already had to deal with each day.

"Of course not, Jiji. How could I do something like that and not get caught? It's not as if anyone SAW me breaking in and dyeing all the clothes an awesome orange, did they now.. Jiiijiii?"

The smirk on Naruto's face betrayed his claim of innocence but at the end of the day the child was right. The Sandaime could not prove that it was Naruto and if the council weren't so frustratingly vocal about punishing the boy he probably wouldn't have put his Anbu through the hell of catching him in the first place- not that it didn't make for good training.

Besides, the Hyūga needed reminding that their supposedly all-seeing eyes weren't the greatest thing to grace the world since sliced bread, he only wished it didn't have to add to his workload.

"Very well, Naruto. I suppose without any real proof I cannot punish you- though I do ask that you go easy on the pranks for now. You've been at the academy for a year now and your reports have been disappointing to say the least. Perhaps you should invest more of your time in your studies rather than on wreaking havoc in my village."

He watched on amusedly as Naruto bounded over to the door and called over his back "whatever you say, Jiji! - See ya!" before disappearing down the halls, energetic as ever, shouting merrily on his way out despite the early hour in the morning.

It had been a long day for the aged Hokage and not for the first time in the past 7 years, he found himself wishing he had been the one to sacrifice himself to the Shinigami and save the village on that fateful night.

"My how things might have turned out differently around here", he slowly turned back to his desk a few minutes later, absently noting that he had been staring at the photograph of the Yondaime Hokage and proceeded to pull open the bottom left draw to retrieve his crystal ball.

Focusing his mind and watching as the smoke cleared, a bitter smile crept onto his face as he saw the small figure of Naruto leaping into bed- not even bothering to change out of his dirty clothes.

Returning the now clear ball to it's place, he turned to face out over the village and whispered to himself, "perhaps there is still hope for you yet, Namikaze Naruto."

Yet as he lightly fingered more tobacco into his pipe and leaned back in his chair, the Professor's mind began to whirl. He considered all that had passed in his office during the last 10 minutes, a few key things standing out to him. Things that had him slightly worried, though he couldn't place his finger on why.

First there was Naruto somehow slipping out of his binds without himself and several Anbu seeing how.

Then there was that smirk that flickered across the boy's face as his eyes passed over the faces of the previous Hokages and most disturbingly was the way in which Naruto's face would become suddenly emotionless when he thought the Sandaime wasn't looking at him.

For the past few years, Naruto had become increasingly more difficult for the Anbu to capture and it had reached a point where the Sandaime had to send out 3 more squads to bring the Namikaze heir in. It bothered the Sandaime to no end that regardless who he assigned to keep track of Naruto, the 7 year old academy student was still able to vanish completely without a trace if he so wished. Often only turning up on their radar if he got hungry and went to the Ichiraku ramen stand or if he decided to bother a particularly kind Chuunin by the name of Umino Iruka at the academy.

The boy had grown inexplicably distant towards him even, he still exuded that same cheerfulness that never failed to bring a smile to the old man's face but the sudden lack of desperation for love and praise didn't go unnoticed by the Sandaime. It was as if Naruto had grown independent of him, he no longer burst into the office at random times of day with the Anbu hot on his heels and his pranks had become much less about drawing attention to himself and more about causing the villagers and shinobi trouble just for the sake of it.

Something had gone horribly wrong, he trusted his instincts and they told him he should keep a closer eye on the Yondaime's legacy. Turning once more to watch as a heavy rain spread out across the village, Sarutobi Hiruzen made a silent vow to himself to keep the boy away from that darkness that so painfully often claimed the minds of powerful young shinobi.

If only he knew it was already too late.

* * *

Leaning back in his chair, his bandaged face obscured by the shadows, Shimura Danzō allowed a rare smile to grace his face. He considered the boy knelt before him, face blank and emotionless as he gazed up at the aged leader of the Anbu ROOT division, patiently waiting to be addressed. Like a sharp blade waiting to be drawn.

"3 and ½ hours, Naruto. I am impressed. Though do not think for a moment that you can start slacking off on your training. The next time you play _"__Hide and Seek" _with the supposed "Village Elite" you will evade their detection for at least 5 hours".

"Understood, Danzō-sama".

The voice was soft but held a strong edge to it that rang out clearly in the large underground room, it was the voice of a disciplined and confident shinobi and it contrasted greatly with the loud, whiny voice most had come to associate with one Uzumaki Naruto.

This boy, who knelt before his commander, was sharp and obedient. He could command the attention of an entire room without raising his voice and could blend perfectly and silently into the shadows. Danzō was exceptionally proud of him.

"And what of Sarutobi?" he asked his young protégé.

"The henged clone I attached to the Naruto clone just dispelled to let me know that the talk with the Hokage went well and that the Naruto clone has taken my place asleep at the apartment."

Oh yes, the boy would be great one day. "Very well. There is still much left for you to do. Go find Kyoko Sensei and have her train with you in your kenjutsu, tomorrow I will give you another history lesson. Dismissed"

"Hai, Danzō-sama".

As be blinked, Naruto had disappered silently from the room. Son of Namikaze Minato, Jinchuuriki of the Kyūbi no Yōko, seal master in training and currently a high chūnin level kōhai in the ROOT ranks. That Sarutobi might have thought it wise to leave the boy alone to rot but Danzō would be damned if he allowed such a valuable weapon of Konoha to go unsharpened. No, this was just the beginning, Namikaze Naruto would become a feared shinobi like his father one day and would go on to lead the Great Konohagakure no Sato like the strong military village it should be.

He would make sure of it.

**And that's a wrap. I hope I've got your attention with this one, let me know what you think below! If I choose to stick with the story I will update either weekly or every two weeks. I've planned out most the chapters so there shouldn't be too much delay. Thanks for reading.**

**Winnieflutters.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again! I'm pleased that there are some of you out there who have taken an interest in this story. I definitely want to continue writing it and see the kind of feedback it gets, so now seems like as good a time as any to explain a bit more about my intentions. Firstly, there will be little to no romance or familial love or any of that gushy stuff in this fic because it simply does not tie in with my plans and would only distract from the story. Secondly, there is an OC, "Kyoko-sensei", whom I mentioned in passing during the last chapter, now before you all run off she is not some super-powered, all knowing, come to save the day Mary Sue, she's not even around all that much actually, and has one small moment of significance much later in the story. Lastly, I'm open to criticism, this really is my first time writing a fanfic and I do want the story and my writing to improve with time. So if something isn't making sense or reading well... Let me know and I'll try and work on it!**

**Anyway, on to chapter 2!**

Strolling lightly through the dark, labyrinthine tunnels that made up the main ROOT base, hands buried in his pockets, Naruto reflected on what he had seen and heard back at the Hokage Monument earlier in the night. That Dog masked Anbu had apparently been his father's student and had, evidently, been somewhat close to the man if he knew of Naruto's heritage, yet Naruto had never heard of him before.

This wouldn't usually bother the young ninja but Danzō-sama had long ago made it his business to ensure Naruto's general knowledge was up to scratch, this included but was not limited to; in depth profiles on all A rank and above shinobi across the 5 nations, the ability to immediately recall both common and sensitive village mission reports and notable events spanning the past decade and the identities, backgrounds and affiliations of all Anbu level shinobi currently and recently serving in the forces. Heck, he could easily identify at least 90% of the undercover ROOT shinobi in Konoha's general forces! (shadow clones make for great study partners)

..So why had he not been taught about this 'Kakashi' character?

The man was clearly someone of note, by the way in which he had addressed the Anbu commander he had to have a fairly high ranking position in Anbu, not to mention he was the student of the kami-damn Yondaime Hokage! He obviously knew of Naruto's true heritage and it seemed the man was, at some point, on the Anbu guard the Sandaime had assigned to watch over him (though little did they all know they had been chasing a shadow clone around for the past 3 years), so why? Why wouldn't Danzō-sama, or even Kyoko-sensei, bother to mention this man to him?

So caught up was he in his own thoughts that he was barely able to step out the way of a fire enhanced kunai that was suddenly shot at him, lightly singing one of his bangs as it whizzed past and hit the far wall behind him. His battle instincts suddenly kicked in and he quickly had to duck and roll forward as a shadowy figure leapt down off of the wall above him, bringing his arms up to block a spinning kick he was able to force his opponent back slightly, giving him enough time to slip a kunai out of his holster and enhance it with wind, preparing to swiftly deliver the weapon to his attacker's gut, but just as he was about to flick it forwards the figure disappeared and reappeared beside him, holding his wrist tightly.

"That's quite enough of that, I think,_Naruto-chan"_, Naruto could only groan and drop his head as he recognised the familiar voice and turned to see his assailant remove their mask, giving him a cheeky grin and two-fingered wave.

"What do you want now, Shisui?".

The two had continued on together through the dim, deserted corridors for a while longer and by the time they neared Naruto's destination he had developed a horrible, sick sensation in the pit of his stomach. It seemed tensions were continuing to rise between The Uchiha Clan and the Konoha superiors, Naruto didn't fully understand the implications of the Uchiha demands for more control and influence being met by the Elder Council, but he understood perfectly the implications of their being denied and Konoha wasn't ready for another war, especially not a civil war. The village was still recovering from the Kyuubi attack-

_**"**__**you know that was against my will, brat"**_

- only 7 years ago and was just about managing to retain it's appearance of strength to the other nations, a civil war would present the perfect opportunity for an enemy village to launch an attack.

Still, he didn't like the options that left them, they could wait for the clan to attack and make a military example of them by executing those at the head of the rise and further limiting the clan's power by discrediting them amongst the shinobi, restricting them within the borders and slowly shutting down the police force. This would ultimately put the Konoha superiors in a bad light due to the Uchiha popularity amongst the villagers, quite possibly cost many innocent lives in the crossfire and could leave the other Clan Heads doubting their clan's perceived worth to the village.

No- straight off the bat Naruto could tell that plan held too many risks for Konoha, which left option 2- annihilate the Uchiha clan and pin the blame on a 3rd party. It was a crazy idea and many innocent people would die, but if neither side would back down on the negotiations it would be disturbingly easy to pull off, after all, negotiations between the Hokage and a Clan Head were mostly private so the other members of the Shinobi council would know little to nothing about the current situation and, frankly, the only reason the Superiors were aware they had to consider a counter-strike option was because they had Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi (secret ROOT operatives) working as double agents for the village and trying to hold off a coup d'état until they could come up with a viable solution.

They had a bit of time to work something out at least, but by the way Shisui was wording things it sounded like Danzō-sama had more to do with it than one who didn't know him might think. Danzō-sama valued bloodlines and anything that would add to Konoha's military might, so Naruto couldn't imagine why he would be trying to stir things with the Uchiha, but he had known the man long enough to know there was always a more cunning scheme at play and had learned early on to be wary of his commander, one of the first things the man had taught him was that a man's enemies are those he should endeavour first to make his friends- and Danzō-sama was easily his best friend. He respected the man, but he didn't trust him as far as he could throw him.

Blinking, Naruto realised he had been silent for some time now and that they were standing outside the large, deep red door that was the entrance to his sensei's chambers,looking up he found Shisui's eyes boring into him, as if considering something, but what? A few more seconds passed by until..

"Naruto, if you were me, what would you do?" the hidden meaning was clear, particularly as Shisui's eyes suddenly spun wildly until they were the familiar black and red pattern of his Mangekyou Sharingan, Naruto gulped, he knew what he was supposed to say but something was stopping him, at last he managed to breathe out, his mind made up, damn the consequences if it ever came back round to him.

"I would do what I felt was right" and meeting Shisui's gaze once more, he turned and slid open the door, disappearing behind it without looking back at his comrade.

A slow smirk crept onto Uchiha Shisui's face as we watched his young friend disappear into the dark room, turning to walk back down the corridor and running his hand through one of the flame torches on the wall, he paused and glanced back at the door once more and in a barely audible whisper he said "you still have much to learn, Namikaze Naruto, but I don't doubt you will be a great leader one day" and with that he vanished in a shunshin. He had some planning to do after all.

* * *

Moving slowly into the large warm room, Naruto felt some of the tension from his talk with Shisui start to fade away, he couldn't help but smirk as he noticed his sensei didn't even bother to look up from her paperwork to greet him- she never did. At last he reached her desk and after staring at her as she worked for a few moments he took a step back and flopped sideways into the armchair opposite her, with his legs hanging over one side and head leant on the other arm so that he could look up at the intricate patterns on the ceiling of the room, seals. Glancing around the room he allowed his eyes to roam once more over the many bookcases she had, filled with sensitive information he just loved to sift through aimlessly on those rare days he had some downtime.

Finally, he brought his eyes back to his sensei- who still had not looked at him- she was a woman in her late 30s and wore a simple short-sleeved black kimono that was slitted down each side and was tied with a light gold sash around the waist. Her build was slender, but feminine, and her fair skin was complimented well by her soft violet eyes but the feature that stood out most was her long fiery, red hair that marked her as a woman of the Uzumaki clan. 4

Naruto had been shocked the day she had decided to tell him she too was an Uzumaki, it had been the day she had told him he would become a fuinjutsu master under her tutelage and 3 years down the line, and hundreds maybe thousands of shadow clone training hours later , he was shaping up to be a fine practitioner of the art..even if he did say so himself.

He had tried bonding with his sensei in that they were both Uzumaki, but she was having none of it. A condition of her teaching him fuinjutsu was that he acted like a proud, mature shinobi of the leaf at all times and not some "naive, impulsive, snot-nosed orphan" as she had put it.

_**"**__**Pfft, as if that stopped you pestering the poor woman with your incessant questions" **_

"SHUT UP, BAKA-KITSUNE!", the fox only sniggered as he settled back down on his haunches, thoroughly enjoying the illusion of the great outdoors that Naruto had created for him in his mindscape. The kit even managed to recreate the smell of the grass.

Admittedly, at first Naruto had been intent on getting answers from his new found relative but the most he had managed to get in 3 years was that she was sent to Konoha as a young shinobi to join the ROOT division and act as a secret liaison between the two allied villages and that after Uzushiogakure no sato's destruction she had stayed on in ROOT as a Konoha kunoichi, the Sandaime not once being made aware of her presence in the village. She was powerful, easily S ranked, but her power lay mostly in fuinjutsu and kenjutsu- as the Uzumaki were famed for their prowess in those areas.

As far as Naruto was concerned, if there was one thing she had to work on it was her people skills, she was no typical ROOT shinobi and he had her to thank for him not becoming an emotionless drone in his training, but still, would it hurt her to be just a bit nicer to him? And open up some more? He knew it was not ever going to happen, she was too "professional", but a boy could hope. Just because he was a shinobi now didn't mean he wasn't still a human.

"You're late, Na-ru-to."

He was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts for the 2nd time that night as he was fixed with a glare that could probably freeze over a volcano. He quickly leapt out of the armchair and stood at attention in front of his sensei, gulping, he decided it best to answer the red head before she decided to start launching random items at him.

"Well, you see sensei I-"

"Save it, Naruto, I'm disappointed in you and I'm sure you know why.."

"Uhh.."

"You evaded Anbu capture for 3 ½ hours tonight, I know you to be capable of better and I can't help but think you allowed yourself to be caught knowing that you had outdone the last chase assigned to you from Danzō-sama by _exactly _45 minutes, care to explain yourself?".

Damn it, he had been caught out, the truth was..

"It got boring, alright! I could run rings around the Anbu all day but I would much rather have them off my back so that I was free to do other things like information gathering and training, can you blame me for not wanting to mess with them all bloody night!? Besides, they have other duties to attend to that are crucial to village security, really I was just thinking of Konoha's best interests!".

He couldn't help but wince as he found himself on the receiving end of another of his sensei's glares.

"We shall have to make the most of the few hours we have left before Danzō-sama wants to give you another lecture, we can work on your swordsmanship in the dojo, I want to see how you have progressed since our last Kenjutsu lesson".

Seeing the promise of pain in her eyes Naruto felt a cold chill down his spine. This was going to suck, big time.

"Perhaps I can help with that", Naruto spun round at hearing the familiar voice.

"Itachi-nii-san!, you're back from your latest mission! Another awesome ass-whooping no doubt?" the faint smile on Itachi's face was enough confirmation.

"Ahem".

Naruto paled, remembering his sensei was there and realising his slip up.

"I mean.. uh.. hehe.. greetings, Itachi-taichou, I take it your mission was a success?".

Thankfully, Itachi ignored Naruto in favour of speaking directly to his superior, "Kyoko-senpai, I would like to volunteer for a spar with Naruto this evening, I too would like to see how far he has come since I left, if that is alright with you, ma'am?"

Kyoko, who was now standing and had, at some point, sealed away all the paperwork on her desk, simply nodded her approval at Itachi and made her way past Naruto to the door causing Naruto to flinch momentarily as she brushed past, as Itachi slid the door open for her to pass through he turned to look at Naruto one last time and give him a small smirk before following his senpai to the dojo.

Naruto brushed a lone strand of hair out of his eye and breathed a heavy sigh, he was about to get kicked around for the next few hours and he had no delusions that he might stand a chance at beating the Uchiha prodigy, but not wanting his sensei to attack him for falling behind, he slid the door shut behind him, before activating the blood seal to lock it and hurrying off after the two sadists.

* * *

He followed Itachi out to the centre of the dojo and quickly scanned his surroundings before settling into his Kenjutsu stance, the opening to the _'The Rebirth of The Phoenix'_ style that the Uzumaki clan was once famed for using, resting his hand on the hilt of his sword he allowed all his muscles to relax so that he might respond swiftly if Itachi made a sudden movement. He tried to keep his features dispassionate as the rather ominous three-tomoed sharingan of his opponent spun into life, carefully regarding him, almost goading him to make the first move.

They remained like that for what felt like a lifetime to the younger of the two, Itachi calm and confident in his perfect opening stance to the Uchiha clan's _'Interceptor fist'_ and Naruto slowly getting impatient as he mentally urged Itachi to attack him. Who was he kidding? The stoic Uchiha could stand like that all night without batting an eyelid, he had to make the first move and he knew it, taking a deep breath and steadying himself he suddenly darted forward, Itachi immediately responded by drawing up his katana and, without pause, they blurred into action, swords meeting every other second in bursts of power before they would part, dancing around the dojo.

Suddenly, Naruto found himself at the receiving end of a series of quick strikes and found he was having trouble parrying the attack, it was at that moment that Itachi decided to start playing mind games with him to rile him up.

"You lack confidence and resolve", Naruto tried to regain control of the battle by cutting through Itachi's momentum at a specific point in the onslaught but he was easily forced back and immediately had to drop low and lift his sword to block a spinning strike, raising himself he managed to jab forward into his opponent's defences and force Itachi to jerk to one side and ease off him long enough for him to regain his balance.

"You are an embarrassment to your clan" that cold voice was causing something to rile up inside him as he thrust forward and tried to pull a feint before launching his counter-attack, he was easily blocked again.

"Is this all you are worth? Pathetic." He was having trouble keeping up with the swiftness of Itachi's movements, was the Uchiha getting faster? Focusing on defending, he managed to bring his sword up in time to block each attack but he could find no opening to take advantage of.

"You are weak, how can you call yourself a ROOT shinobi?" Naruto let out a small growl and pushed more power into his movements, preparing to launch another counter-strike using Itachi's superior height against him.

"Perhaps we should have left you to rot in the streets", the blonde launched himself into the air and brought his sword down on Itachi, but the older boy was ready for him, forcing Naruto's sword to one side, he grabbed his ankle and flung him across the room.

"Are you sure the Yondaime is your father?" he taunted as Naruto slammed into the back wall. The sharp, shooting pain that now ran down his spine caused the young blonde to wince as he tried to brush it to the back of his mind.

"No wonder the Uzumaki were used as jinchūriki, what else could they have been good for?"

That was enough, Naruto picked himself up off the ground and gripped his katana tighter, preparing to launch himself at his opponent. Itachi smirked, at last he saw that fire in the small boy that he was searching for, in Naruto's mindscape the Kyuubi was having a fantastic time.

"_**That's it Kit, tear that Uchiha brat to shreds"**_, in all honesty the Kyuubi actually didn't mind Itachi as, from what he had seen the past few years, the boy was nothing like his ancestors. Still, he would always take any opportunity to see an Uchiha get their ass handed to them.

Naruto started to move on instinct, suddenly becoming a whirlwind of movement that had Itachi actually having to focus on defending. Y_es, this is more like it, he is starting to unlock the potential of the Rebirth of The Phoenix, moving on instinct he is using each kata to its full potential, this match is looking up._ Watching from the sidelines and thinking to herself, Kyoko-sensei noted that when Naruto got angry these days, he no longer got wild with his attacks like he had done when he was younger, instead the ancient fight style she had been beating into him was starting to emerge without him having to consciously focus on each movement. It was becoming second nature to him.

It was a skill that took most shinobi a great many years to hone and would be particularly difficult for Naruto to master considering his connection to the Kyuubi, but instead of getting frantic with his movements he was getting sharp and deadly. That he had not said a single word since the start of the match was a testament to his psychological development.

But as Naruto suddenly drew his sword dangerously close to Itachi's neck, with enough power to behead the prodigal teen before being blocked and re-engaged in a whirlwind of action, Kyoko noted that he would still need much more training in controlling his emotions and honing his battle instincts. She would make a fearsome warrior of him yet.

"No control, nothing more than a mindless beast" Sweeping strike to the left shoulder. Blocked.

"Perhaps you should be sparring with my younger brother, you're more on his level I think" A spinning strike to the abdomen. Blocked.

"I can take you both for ice cream in the park after" A somersault followed by a spinning kick. A feint. Heavy back-swing to the head. Dodged.

The fight went on like this for some time with Itachi eventually letting up on the insults and giving practical advice to help Naruto adjust his posture and footwork, occasionally change his grip on his katana or re-attempt a strike with more or less power depending on Itachi's criticism. Soon, what started out as a vicious spar became a much friendlier training session, like many the two had done together in the past and some 3 hours later the young blonde was a sweaty, panting heap on the ground with Itachi standing over him, barely harmed, wearing an expression as if they had just taken a leisurely stroll down by the river or something.

Just as Naruto was readying to pull himself back off the ground and attack once more, he heard an unexpected sound and paused, turning to the corner of the room where Kyoko-sensei had at last emerged from the shadows, an approving smile on her face, slowly clapping and strolling over to the two boys. "I think I have seen enough for now, you two, thank you for your assistance Itachi" she said in a soft tone, nodding lightly to the teen, "though it is time you returned to the Uchiha compound. Anbu may go looking for you and it will raise suspicion with your father if he believes you've been at the Anbu HQ all this time."

Itachi, who had just pulled Naruto off the ground, nodded his head in assent "yes, ma'am" and turned to leave the room, but not before ruffling the blonde's hair and letting out a soft chuckle at the annoyed glare he received in return. "Good work, Naruto-kun, you continue to improve and surprise me in our spars. I look forward to seeing how you fare next time".

Naruto followed his oldest friend's departure with his eyes and listened to the fading sound of his footsteps even after the door had slid shut. At last, he turned back to his sensei and managed to give her a cheeky smile.

"So I don't suppose I'm free to go take a nap now, sensei?". She too begun walking towards the door but said nothing til she reached it, looking back she tilted her head slightly and whispered conspiratorially.

"You have a history lesson with Danzō-sama now, remember?"

Naruto's face fell as he recalled what his commander had said to him the previous night.. "shit".

But he lifted his head as he heard his sensei's light chuckle, "however, I doubt he would notice if you were to send a shadow clone to the lesson in your place".

And so, leaving a dumb-founded Naruto standing in the middle of the dojo, covered in blood and bruises, clothes torn and hair dishevelled, Kyoko-sensei disappeared once more into the dark corridors of the underground hideout.

He ran his fingers through his hair and smiled to himself, thinking back over the last 24 hours events "heh, just another day in the life of a ROOT shinobi I guess".

**And there we have it, not too much has happened in this chapter because I didn't want to just leap into action. Things get a bit more interesting as of the next chapter but the real story really picks up at about chapter 6, we also see a bit more of what's happening with "Public Shadow Clone Naruto" and some other familiar characters. Let me know what you think! And until next time.**

**Winnieflutters**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone! I'm glad the last chapter went down well with you and I've taken on board everything that's been said to me, particularly some good advice regarding layout from Friaku. Hopefully, the following chapters will make for an easier read and start to answer some of the questions I've received from a few of you. There is one question I will answer directly though, Will Naruto get the Sharingan/Rinnegan? No. He won't be getting any d****ōjutsu of any sort because I don't want him to be too overpowered, but that doesn't mean he won't get some awesome perks (justus and the like) along the way. So read on and let me know what you think!**

* * *

Uchiha Shisui, unlike most of his clan and most of the village, had always been rather fond of the village's resident troublemaker. Granted, he knew the young Namikaze's true personality and had never been at the receiving end of one of the mischievous blonde's pranks, but there was something about being around Naruto that never failed to bring a smile to the teen's face. Despite being a ROOT shinobi, trained to not only accept but to embrace the harsh, unyielding reality of shinobi life, Naruto remained pure at heart. To Shisui, he was like a small flame that would slowly grow stronger over time until he became a grand beacon of light- a symbol of hope for many, of that Shisui had no doubt.

He remembered the day he first truly came to respect Namikaze Naruto like it was just yesterday. It had been a year ago to this exact day, actually.

_-flashback-_

_They had been running for 3 days straight to get to a small village in the Land of Birds, to Shisui's left was the ROOT operative codename: Takeo and to his right was the ROOT kōhai: Naruto, who was wearing a seal that had changed his hair from its sunny blonde to deep black._

_Danzō-sama had sent them out to deal with an incident involving some possessed villagers that were committing mass murder and spreading fear across the Land of Birds. Usually, such a thing would not be of any interest to the ROOT commander, but it seemed one of Danzō's less than savoury business partners had a base situated nearby and was threatening to make a lot of noise that would bring serious repercussions back to Konoha, that is, if Danzō didn't do something immediately. Shisui didn't know just what business Danzō__had gotten into with the shady man, and he wasn't about to as, either._

_His mission instructions were clear and concise: deal with it. So they would deal with it. Failure was not an option._

_Glancing over at Naruto, Shisui was pleased to see that he showed no signs of fear or uncertainty, the boy had only just started going on missions when he turned 6 and this would mark his 5__th__mission that year. He was improving at a rapid rate._

_It was when they reached the destination village that Naruto truly surprised the Uchiha, after speaking to a few petrified villagers. they were able to locate a cave that the possessed ones apparently returned to during the day, before returning in the night to attack villagers by climbing into homes and savagely tearing off limbs to eat and smear over their faces or they would drag innocents back to their cave to perform strange rituals with and often possess._

_Naruto had not shown a single expression throughout the explanation given to them and when they reached the cave he turned to Shisui and said,"I would like to take the lead from here onwards, Shisui-taichou."_

_Shisui had not been expecting that but he nodded his head in assent, "Very well, Naruto-kōhai, I will leave this to you." _

_Naruto only nodded his head in return before drawing his sword and marching straight into the main entrance of the cave, Shisui and Takeo in tow._

_What they saw would often haunt Shisui's dreams for sometime later. Bloody limbs strewn across the floor of the cave and naked, dead women covered in strange painted patterns hanging from the ceilings by their ankles. Continuing on into the cave they eventually found the room that held their answers, huddled in a large circle, humming strange tunes and sitting on the bodies of their victims, their leader, an old woman with long, shaggy green hair and a hunched back stood dominantly in their centre._

_The possessed children, eyes completely black and mouths dripping with blood, turned to face the ROOT shinobi and broke out into grins._

_Shisui could feel the contents of his stomach begin to churn and Takeo had gone a sickly shade of green. But Naruto?_

_Naruto only blinked._

_With a flash the boy vanished and moments later the three shinobi were the only living things in the room._

_Without saying a word, Naruto sheathed his sword and made his way towards the exit, motioning for the other two to follow. Once outside he ran his hands through his hair with a sigh and turned to face the entrance once more. "You might want to take a few steps back." They took several._

"_Fire Style: Cranium Carver!" A large fire storm suddenly burst from the boy's mouth and travelled throughout the cave, causing the entire structure to completely crumble apart. Nothing but ash was left in it's wake._

_It was an impressive display to say the least and Shisui let out a long whistle, the brat had a crazy amount of chakra to burn. "No hesitation, Naruto, impressive."_

_Naruto turned and walked off towards the village, looking back and locking eyes with Shisui he said "I don't think those innocent people would have wanted me to hesitate to free them." He didn't say another word the rest of the way down._

_It was at that moment that Shisui realised that Naruto didn't just do things because it was his duty as a shinobi, he was doing them because he felt it was his duty as a human. It was from then on that he started to pay closer attention to the Namikaze child, finally beginning to understand why Itachi was so fond of the boy._

_The rest of the mission had gone on without a hitch, once they returned to the small village and reassured its inhabitants that the threat had been dealt with, they caught up to Danzō's "associate" and Naruto passed on a message from the old war hawk; it was a kunai to the throat. Danzō didn't like liabilities and the man would be easily replaceable._

_The Uchiha would never forget what Naruto had said to them as they left the man's base of operations, "do you think Danzō-sama will ever send us on a pleasant mission?" Shisui had immediately burst into laughter and swept Naruto into a headlock, even Takeo had to fight back a smile._

_-flashback end-_

It was that memory that brought the bright smile to Shisui's face as he slid open the door to the training room Naruto was currently using, though it quickly turned into a mischievous smirk when he saw just what kind of training his favourite blonde was engaging in.

The room held a massive pool filled with boiling hot water and right near the centre of it Naruto was blindfolded, doing a handstand on a floating log, whilst holding a leaf to his forehead using chakra.

This was just too good an opportunity for Shisui to let up, but just as he was about to slide a kunai out of his holster, Naruto spoke up "don't you fucking dare."

"Hehe, you caught me. Okay, I won't. How long have you been doing that for exactly?"

"1 hour and 48 minutes without falling and about 4 hours with several slip ups, Kyoko-sensei instructed me to do it for 2 hours straight without falling in or I won't be allowed to eat. So I repeat, don't you fucking dare."

At this point, Shisui was doubled over laughing by the side of the pool, this was just too good an opportunity, kami he loved Kyoko-sensei and her training methods sometimes. Calming himself and standing up straight, Shisui took a step back..

"Shisui." The threat in Naruto's voice was clear but this was going to be well worth whatever hell the blonde laid upon him at a later date.

"SHADOW SHURIKEN TECHNIQUE!"

Naruto was furious, luckily he managed to do a backflip at the last second and bring his hands up into the clone seal, creating several copies of himself to use as stepping-stones out of the pool. However, Shisui had anticipated this and threw a shuriken at the last stepping stone clone, causing the blonde to tumble straight into the boiling hot water. He quickly emerged, flailing and cursing before he was able to balance on the surface and climb out.

The glare he shot the older boy could have halted an army.

It was at that point that Kyoko-sensei made her presence known from the shadows of the room, her lips slightly curved "alright, I think you've suffered enough today, Naruto. Danzō-sama would like to see you in the main room now."

Naruto finally broke off the demonic stare he was giving Shisui, which had actually caused a cold chill to run down the Uchiha's spin, and turned to his sensei, "hai, sensei!" before vanishing from the room in a shunshin.

Shisui suddenly had a bad feeling as he turned to face the Uzumaki woman, unsettled by the warm smile she was giving him.

"How about a quick spar on the water, _Shisui-chan?" _Her eyes held a glint that promised pain.

He gulped, what were the chances Danzō-sama would summon him to the main room as well?

* * *

Naruto quickly made his way to his room to change before going to his commander, muttering obscenities and vows to bring down pain, suffering and embarrassment for a certain Uchiha under his breath as he went along.

Itachi, who had been walking past Naruto at the time and had seen the flames in his eyes, opted not to engage his riled up young friend in conversation, that is until he heard the blonde mutter " damn Uchiha" and decided to confirm.

"Uhh, Naruto..?"

"NOT YOU!" Naruto snapped back before continuing his tirade and storming off down another corridor.

"Well, that's a relief."

* * *

Sometime later, Naruto knelt in front of Danzō, the picture of calm and serenity.

Despite what many thought about the bandaged old man, he did have a sense of humour and had heard about Naruto's raging after his recent training session.

Pausing for a moment to gauge just how calm the Namikaze boy was, Danzō leant back in his chair and simply said, "nice bath, Naruto?"

It was all Naruto could do not to clench his fists, but he couldn't hold back from gritting his teeth.

"_**HEHEHE, this guy does kill me sometimes with his one liners. Lighten up, kit. You've gotta admit it was pretty darn funny! I've already added it to my collection of funny Naruto moments in here." **_In Naruto's mindscape the Kyuubi was sitting in front of a large screen, his paw pressed on a specific button of the remote, bringing up the memory of Naruto tripping into the boiling water, arms flailing wildly.**_"_****_This will never get old."_**

"_Shut. Up." _Naruto thought into his mind, He had worked damn hard at that training exercise and only had 12 more minutes until he would've finished. He would not be ready to laugh about it any-time soon.

"You summoned for me, Danzō-sama?" Naruto said in an even tone.

Danzō smirked, Naruto would soon be ready to handle political meetings. Not just yet. But soon.

"Yes, I have a mission for you, you leave as soon as you have made arrangements to cover your presence in public." He handed him the mission file.

Taking the small folder, Naruto allowed his eyes to skim over the details and closed it before handing it back to his master. "Understood."

"Good. Dismissed".

Danzō took a sip of his tea as he watched Naruto disappear from the room. Things had gotten a lot more interesting in the ROOT division since they inducted Naruto and Danzō was glad for it. Konoha was coming into a new age now and some things had to change in order for the village to prevail.

Naruto's rise to power would mark a great change for Konoha, no more of those soft, unrealistic ideals that the Sandaime had encouraged and let manifest in the minds of the shinobi forces. No, Naruto would be like Minato, a symbol of strength for the village and a leader with a bit of an edge to him. His time in ROOT allowing him to keep his mind open about the reality of the world they live in and make the decisions the previous Hokages perhaps would not have.

Konoha would be untouchable.

* * *

After creating a hundred shadow clones and placing them in key places across Konoha wearing various henges, such as bricks, kitchen utensils and books, that would be able to quickly take the place of the main clone in case it was dispelled, Naruto started packing for a 5 day all round trip. His mission was just an assassination of some crime lord that wasn't keeping to his end of a deal he had with Danzō-sama, so he wasn't expecting to be gone too long.

As he placed the last item in his pack and sealed it away, he felt a presence enter his room. Turning, he saw a rather dishevelled looking Shisui standing in the doorway, covered in several first and second degree burns.

"Kyoko-sensei?" He asked the older teen.

He received a stiff nod in return. "Still mad at me, _Naru-chan_?" He shot Shisui a sharp glare at the "chan" but sighed a moment later.

"No need to be, I'm going to get you back and I'm going to get you back good."

"Hehe, I deserve nothing less. I would say I'm sorry, but I'm really not. I had a good laugh earlier, a well needed one at that. Look, I don't wanna hold you up, I just wanted to wish you good luck on your mission and to let you know that for the past year or so I really have considered you like a little brother."

"Why does this feel like goodbye?" Naruto was staring intently at Shisui now, trying to read deeper into what he was saying.

"I dunno, maybe it is. Your mission might be a failure, as might mine so-"

"-What mission?" Yep, Shisui was almost certainly planning to do something stupid.

"I've been thinking about what you said the other day, Naruto, about doing the right thing and.. You're right. So I'm going to do something that might be crazy but it might just be so crazy it works and I'm ready to risk that for what I believe in. So thank you."

Naruto only groaned. "You clearly haven't thought this apparent suicide mission through if you're preparing your goodbyes! Please Shisui, wait til I get back and maybe we can come up with something to-"

"-No, Naruto. This isn't your fight. You're running late for your own mission. Go. Don't worry about me. I'll be here when you get back."

He suddenly felt Naruto pelt straight into him, grasping him in a warm, brotherly embrace. Ruffling the small blonde's hair he pried the younger boy off of him and looked him in the eyes once more and whispered "you've got a great future ahead of you, kid."

"And you've got an early grave ahead of you, idiot."

"Hehe, see you in Hell, Naruto."

"See you in Hell, Shisui-nii."

Naruto turned and walked out of his room, leaving his friend to watch after him with a sad smile on his face.

* * *

Shadow clone Naruto was bored out of his mind, his original had gone off on a mission 2 days ago so he and the other clones had to be careful not to dispel too soon. The original had pumped a ton of chakra into creating him and if he didn't take too many serious hits we was estimated to last about 6 more days, the real question was; what could he do to pass the time?

Usually, he would just wander aimlessly around the less populated parts of the village, or plan out some pranks for when the original returned and if he got desperate he would attend the academy,but he had gotten bored planning pranks and quickly grown tired of the looks thrown his was in the village, and it was a Saturday. He suddenly felt himself desiring company.

He didn't want to go near the Sandaime for fear of raising suspicion, and he wasn't about to taunt any shinobi into chasing him, maybe he could just find someone to hang out with?

Problem was he didn't have any actual friends outside of ROOT.

There were a few people he talked to every once in a while in the academy; Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chōji. He supposed one of them would probably hang out with him, but which one should he seek out? He didn't think his brain could take all of them at once, he was used to being around ROOT shinobi, not 7 year old academy students.

Kiba would invariably want to fight and might be able to smell that he wasn't the original once the scent on the clothes he had put on wore off. So no.

Shino wouldn't make for great conversation and his ants might also eventually notice he wasn't the original. So no.

Chōji would be awkwardly shy and that wouldn't pass any time.

That left Shikamaru, the lazy kid was smart, Naruto could tell that was a risk, but it was unlikely he would realise Naruto was a shadow clone. That was a plus. Yeah, that plan could work.

Lifting himself up off of the grass and making his way out of the meadow he had been sitting in, Naruto made his way to the Nara compound.

Nara Shikaku was oddly surprised when he opened the door to the Nara clan house and looked down to see Uzumaki Naruto staring tentatively back up at him. He, of course, knew the boy to be the Kyuubi jinchūriki, and having been a friend of the Yondaime Hokage's he had always known that the boy was the man's son. He and his clan, of course, held no ill will towards the boy but neither had any of them ever made an effort to reach out to him, so he was not displeased to see the blonde-haired child, only confused.

"Good afternoon, Uzumaki-san, how may I help you?" He watched as some of the fear in thie boys eyes started to fade and a glimmer of hope flickered across his small features.

"I wanted to ask Shikamaru if he would teach me how to play a card game or maybe come and hang out with me for a bit, Shikaku-san.. err.. -sama!" Naruto was mentally grinning as he saw how the Nara head easily bought into his act and was applauding his own fantastic acting skills.

Shikaku was slightly shocked to hear Naruto attempting to be polite, from what he had heard the boy was loud and crude, though this only proved that people were not always as they seem.

Tilting his head slightly, the Nara head considered the huge smile the boy was struggling to keep on his face, fear or rejection clearly building under the surface. "I'm afraid Shikamaru has gone out with Ino and Chōji, Naruto. Perhaps you might be able to find them over at the playground?"

He was unprepared for the dejected look on the boy's face as he heard him mutter "playground" under his breath, was there some reason Naruto didn't want to go to the playground? Sighing, he realised that other parents often supervised their children at the playground and would almost certainly forbid them from playing with Naruto. It was undoubtedly an unpleasant place for the son of the Yondaime.

In reality, Naruto just didn't want to be around loads of kids.

"Or perhaps you could come in and I can teach you a game, that way you can challenge Shikamaru when you get back to the Academy on Monday."

The shocked look on Naruto's face was priceless. How was he going to keep the act up in front of the village's chief strategist!?

"Uhh, if you're sure, Shikaku-sama?" he managed to breathe out.

"Shikaku is fine, Naruto, come on in."

Gulping, he followed the Nara clan head into the house, his mind working fast, trying to think over what he should and should not say or do. This was going to be tough.

It would be an incredible feat if he managed to last without raising suspicion, if not? Well, his original would have to worry about that when he got back. And he wouldn't be too happy about it.

* * *

Placing the severed head of his victim into the sack, Naruto had a sudden feeling that something wasn't quite right in Konoha. _**"**__**Perhaps you should stop messing about and get back then."**_ Kurama was right, slipping out the window and disappearing into the trees, Naruto ran back to Konoha at full tilt, being careful to make sure no one saw him. What news would await him back at the village?

* * *

**And there we have it. I'm still trying to build things up a bit before we get into the main story and by chapters 6 and 7 things will have picked quite a bit. I just didn't want the story to seem too rushed and unrealistic. Anyway, I hope you still liked the chapter? Feel free to let me know what you think, good or bad. Thank you again for giving my story a chance.**

**Until next time!**

**Winnieflutters.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello everyone! I suppose I owe you all an apology, I have been incredibly ill since my last update and unable to focus on the story. So I'm sorry! Anyway, I'm back now so the pace will be picking up a bit. Before I begin, I just want to respond to a few reviews I received for the last chapter. **

**First I will start with the wonderful 'Friaku': I can see that with your advice the chapters are looking a lot better as they go along, so hopefully I've sorted the issue with the commas out this time around! Also, I'm glad you like Kyoko because I didn't want her to seem like your typical sun-shines-out-her-arse" type OC.**

**Mejciu: I can certainly put Naruto in some armour, though he would only wear it on ROOT missions. That's easily done to please my kind reviewers :) **

**Adharsh/Mejciu: About chapter length, I am still building up the story so you may have to give me time with that one. Rest assured the chapters will get slightly longer in due course though. **

**LeroyallenXnaruto: I suppose it boils down to individual fanfic preference but hopefully you won't be too disappointed with the ROOT Naruto in this story. He is fully aware of Danzo's true nature but unlike the other ROOT operatives, he isn't being trained to be a mindless pet. Danzo wants him to be the Hokage so he is treated very differently from the others. Also, he's being trained in fuinjutsu by an S-ranked Uzumaki, Danzo cannot possibly hope to control him with that seal. Thank you everyone who has taken the time to review and I hope the next chapter is worth the long wait!**

* * *

The dark, candle-lit room was eerily silent as the two figures in it's centre each regarded one another. Eventually the older of the two, who was poised in a slightly raised chair with his cane leant against the side, turned his heavily bandaged face to the left and nodded to a corner of the room that was seemingly devoid of life before bringing his stern gaze back to the shinobi knelt in front of him.

Feeling the other presences leave the room, the younger man rose to his feet and stood with his arms loosely at his side, his blonde hair the only thing distinguishing him from the darkness of the room as his dark armour held no reflection and he wore a matte black mask of painted porcelain which was marked with swirling red symbols that identified him as a Kōhai under the tutelage of the Phoenix-masked ROOT captain- Uzumaki Kyoko.

"Could you repeat that, sir?"

Danzō paused for a few more moments before inclining his head slightly and speaking once more.

"Uchiha Shisui has betrayed ROOT and ultimately, Konoha. He must be put down and I am assigning you the task of assembling a team to track him and deal with the threat. This is an S-ranked mission of high sensitivity and must be dealt with post haste."

"_**Well this is tense."**_

Naruto drew his left hand up to his face and removed his mask, affixing it to his waist before brushing a bang that had fallen over his eyes out of the way. As he lifted his gaze once more to meet Danzō's, the aged man was startled to see the same sharp, icy and calculating narrowed stare that one Namikaze Minato had often given him many years before.

Danzō could barely hold back a smirk as he saw the accusatory glare settle into resigned acceptance, the boy was right to suspect him of foul play, after all, and his ability to make the right deductions in such a short time would serve him well when he took over the mantle of Hokage.

But would the prodigal child make the right decision now? Regardless of the circumstances, Uchiha Shisui had committed treason and Naruto knew it well.

The old war hawk was pleased to see Naruto reach for his mask once more.

"Mission accepted."

Nodding in approval, the ROOT commander decided not to waste any more time. "Good. You are dismi-"

"-Actually, that won't be necessary." Both males turned sharply towards the familiar voice, neither had felt the Uzumaki woman enter the room and both were unsettled by the stone cold expression she wore on her face as she slowly moved out of the shadows, her ruby red locks swaying behind her.

"Uchiha Shisui's body has been retrieved and destroyed according to ROOT directive 28. He was also missing both eyes when his body washed up."

She allowed her eyes to move slowly from one figure to the other, glancing momentarily at the small sack by her students feet that no doubt contained the head of his mission target.

"I see your mission was a success, Naruto. Go wash up and change into your usual attire, then be in my office upon my return. No excuses for lateness. Dismissed."

Naruto was ready to protest, but seeing the authority in his sensei's eyes he turned his back on Danzō and marched out of the room. Pausing at the exit to look back he saw that Danzō had risen from his seat and was engaged in an intense staring match against Kyoko-sensei, he knew better than to eavesdrop though and slipped out of the room silently.

* * *

Moving quickly through the corridors, his mind whirling with new information from both Danzō and his now dispelled shadow clones, Naruto absently noted that whenever he passed another operative they would not meet his gaze and a few even picked up their pace. What was their problem with him now?

"_**Actually Kit, you are emitting an incredibly large amount of killing intent right now. You need to calm down, you knew that Uchiha brat would do something stupid while you were gone and you as good as told him you approved."**_

"_I DID NOT TELL HIM TO ATTACK THE ROOT COMMANDER!"_

"_**Firstly, watch your tone when you are talking to me child. We might be on friendly terms but I am still a being that far outclasses you. Do not forget it. Secondly, reign in that KI! You don't want patrolling Anbu to pick up on that intent and zone in on this base location."**_

The riled up blonde growled before slamming open the door to his room and storming over to the bathroom, reaching the sink he splashed some water over his face and tried to slow down his breathing and draw in his killing intent. He felt the ruby red necklace on his chest pulse for a couple seconds before seals spread out across his body, forcing back the demon chakra he was drawing on and soothing his own chakra.

The stone in the necklace was called a Phoenix Gem and it had been given to him by Kyoko-sensei when he first joined ROOT, she had told him it would allow her to always track his location and to send him subtle messages across long distances but that it also held calming properties from an ancient and sacred entity. He had been instructed to keep it under his shirt and to only reveal that it helped him refuse the dark side of the Kyūbi's chakra, particularly if Danzō-sama was the one asking. She wore an identical one that was always visible dangling over her chest.

A few moments passed by before he felt some semblance of calm flowing through him, looking up at his reflection in the mirror he watched as his eyes reverted back from narrow red slits to their usual sea of blue, with hints of carmine around the irises. In his rage, he had almost given into the darkness in his heart and morphed into tailed beast mode, like his younger self had been prone to do in the early days of his ROOT training.

"_**You've come a long way since then, Kit. You are able to reject that power a lot quicker."**_

"_I only wish I didn't let it creep up on me in the first place."_

"_**I've acknowledged you as a worthy container for my greatness so you had better not disappoint me, these things take time."**_

"_Thanks Kurama, I'm feeling a lot more relaxed now. I just need time to think."_

"_**Well, I can't have you embarrassing me when we cross paths with my younger siblings and their jinchūriki. So get it together."**_

Silently thanking his demon companion for his reassuring words and returning to his room, Naruto removed his armour and flung on his usual black pants, black shirt with red Uzumaki swirl and sleeveless black hoodie combo.

Glancing at the clock, he realised he probably didn't have much time before his sensei returned to her office and slipped on his black fingerless gloves and sandals before darting out the room.

* * *

As he approached his sensei's office he cast his mind back a few days ago to when he had walked down that very corridor with his brother of sorts, Shisui. Why had he said he would do what he felt was right? If he had been in Shisui's shoes would he really have gone to those lengths?

Did he believe in his own words now?

Feeling his mind wondering astray, the boy shifted those thoughts from his mind. Of course he did. Danzō-sama was a disease, Naruto remembered how Shisui had hinted that the old warmonger was involved and he had seen that guilty, pleased look in the old man's eye when he spoke of Shisui's actions.

Just what was going on?

Rubbing his temples, he settled into the chair opposite his sensei's unoccupied one and began to run his mind through all of the possibilities, sparing a sigh as he noted Kurama was taking little to no interest in the Uchiha situation.

"_I'm sure you must have some ideas, oh wise and powerful one!?"_ He called dramatically into his mindscape.

"_C'mon, help me out here. I know you don't like the Uchiha but those two are my family!"_ he pleaded as he stepped into his mindscape and sprawled out tiredly on the grass in front of the huge, nine-tailed demon fox.

The fox, for his part, only breathed out a sigh before opening a single eye to meet the expectant gaze of his young Namikaze host.

"_**Not that I care in the slightest, but it seems this is about the Sharingan. You can't have missed that expression that flashed across Danzō's face when your sensei mentioned the body's lack of eyes? If I had to place a bet I would say Danzō wants the sharingan for Konoha, just not in the hands of the Uchiha. He doesn't trust them- rightly so I might add- and wants them and their abilities purely under the village's control."**_

Naruto only nodded as he looked up at the morning sky in his mindscape, _"Power. It's always about power."_ Kurama remained silent but was impressed with how Naruto was handling his emotions, the boy had truly grown over the years.

"_**Also, this clearly has something to do with the revelation that I was being controlled by an Uchiha on that night. No doubt Danzō passed on suspicions that the Uchiha were responsible after you revealed to him the truth of the attack. Naturally, the Konoha leadership would have started to curb the clan's power which has led to the current situation."**_

"_It all goes back to that night, doesn't it? I must be cursed. If I hadn't been born you would have remained inside my mother where no Uchiha could control you and all of this would have been avoided."_

"_**It's too late for anything to be changed now, kit. The Uchiha are stuck in their corrupted mindset and Danzō has no real opposition at the moment. A little runt like you certainly isn't going to stand in the way."**_

"_Don't I know it."_ And he did, Naruto had spent a great deal of time around Danzō and was well aware that he was not nearly on the man's intellectual level yet. He needed more time than he currently had before he would be able to make a difference in the village.

"_**Besides, you have other issues to worry about at the moment."**_

"_What are you talking about?"_ The boy turned on his side to rest his head on his elbow and quirked an eyebrow at the immortal, what now?

"_**I was sifting through all your shadow clone memories while you were distracted and it seems you visited the Nara compound yesterday and played Shōgi with the Nara clan head."**_

The Kyūbi could only snigger as the blonde leapt up, his energy having returned, and yelled _"WHAT!?"_ at the powerful creature.

Reaching for the remote the fox hit the play button and his face burst into a huge grin as he watched Naruto's face go from shock to annoyance to panic as he saw a video of himself playing the popular war game with the village's head strategist- AND WINNING!

"_Kami help me, this day cannot get any worse" _

"_**Bad things usually happen in 3s and, as it were, you are no exception in this instance. You've also had Hatake Kakashi tailing you and he now suspects you of being able to create shadow clones amongst other abilities. He has reported to the Sandaime and your Anbu guard has doubled in size. One wrong step and they're ready to haul your sorry butt to Interrogation."**_

At this point, Naruto was banging his head against a rather large tree and muttering to himself_"..stupid shadow clones, they had one job! ONE! Don't draw too much attention! Grr."_

Glancing up upon realising the sniggering had stopped and seeing the Kyūbi with a sadistic smile on his face, not saying a word, Naruto was instantly on high alert and snapped himself out of his mindscape.

Opening his eyes he jumped back slightly as he found himself pinned with a piercing stare by two deep, violet orbs. Kyoko-sensei was now seated on her side of the desk, holding a small cup of tea and sifting through sheets of paperwork that had not been there when he had first entered the room.

Naruto's eyes dropped to the ruby necklace hanging from her neck, momentarily remembering how he had almost lost his cool earlier, and he focused on remaining calm as he spoke up.

"Sensei, what happened while I was away?"

Lifting her head again to consider the small boy, Kyoko sighed softly before settling her teacup down on the large oak table and leaning back in her chair.

"Uchiha Shisui attacked Danzō-sama in an attempt to control the commander with his Sharingan, he was soundly defeated but managed to escape the base. Sometime later he was sighted with Uchiha Itachi before disappearing comletely. Uchiha Itachi was questioned by the police force under suspicion of foul play and has been restricted to the Uchiha Compound under the orders of the Uchiha clan head. No party was able to locate Uchiha Shisui until recently and a suicide note was found by the Uchiha clan."

Throughout the explanation Naruto had remained silent but his gaze had hardened as Kyoko-sensei came to a finish, "Itachi has been detained in the compound?"

"Yes."

"I need some air." He rose from his seat and bowed to his sensei before turning and leaving the room.

Sipping her tea and turning her attention back to her paperwork, Kyoko pondered just how these events would impact her student. "All in due time, I suppose" she whispered, fingering the stone nestled against her chest.

* * *

It was about 8am and the village was slowly waking up as shinobi rushed in various directions, villagers started to open up their shops and students made their way to school. Naruto was strolling lightly down a busy main street, hands in his trousers as he stared ahead of him. ignoring the customary glares he received.

He could feel the locations of each shinobi on his Anbu guard as they followed his every movement carefully, but he didn't have time to worry about that at the moment. Besides, he wasn't an impostor and had been trained to withstand torture and interrogation. They wouldn't be able to prove anything and the Sandaime would have to dismiss it as a false alarm and send that meddling Hatake for an eye test.

Before he realised what he was doing, he found himself standing outside the academy. Naruto had never actually been to the academy in person, always choosing to send a shadow clone so that he could focus on doing some proper training in one of the designated ROOT training grounds.

Shrugging to himself he decided he might as well hang around for a bit and try the academy out first hand, he doubted he would learn anything he didn't already know but it would be useful to study his classmates a bit and see who might be helpful to him in the future.

As he entered the classroom he raised an eyebrow at the shocked expressions everyone in the room was giving him, "what?" he muttered, annoyed at having so much attention focused on him.

Iruka's expression quickly changed to an approving smile, "oh nothing, Naruto, you're just earlier than usual. Please, take your seat."

"Whatever." He slowly made his way to the seat in the top corner of the room, ignoring the incredulous stares he was receiving.

20 minutes into the class and it was official, the academy was a complete and utter waste of time. The Namikaze heir had, by this point, stopped listening to the teacher and began studying his classmates.

He was unimpressed, to say the least.

The male population of the class were lazy, undisciplined, childish and- particularly in a certain Uchiha's case- drowning in their own arrogance. Every single time Uchiha Sasuke opened his mouth he was met with cheers and whoops from most the girls in the class. It was pathetic. This was not how kunoichi behaved!

Kami, if Kyoko-sensei ever saw this. Naruto's mind began to wonder back to some of his early training sessions. Iruka, seeing the suddenly disturbed look on Naruto's face, voiced his concern.

"Is everything alright, Naruto?"

"Huh? Uh.. yeah, I'm fine thanks Iruka sensei" Naruto muttered as he was shaken out of his reveries, yes, Kyoko-sensei would almost certainly do something terrifying to those little girls if she were here.

He was once again the subject of many shocked stares, the class had not been expecting such a calm response from the class loud-mouth but Naruto just returned their looks with an annoyed glare.

And why did the Hyūga heiress keep staring at him? He was about ready to pin her with a glare and a bit of KI before he heard Kurama mutter disinterestedly from his mindscape.

"_**Idiot."**_

"_What? I'm the idiot here!? Are you not paying any attention to the people around me!?"_

"_**Their ignorance does not make you any less of an idiot, why are you even wasting valuable time here?"**_

"_That's a good point actually."_

He waited until the next break before creating a shadow clone to take his place and slipping out of the academy, his Anbu guard completely unaware of the change.

* * *

Blocking a series of kicks, Naruto was relieved to have his mind distracted. After leaving the academy he had gone to train at one of the secret ROOT grounds where he had found the operative codename Tera engaging in some harsh taijutsu training. Seeing the perfect opportunity to relieve some tension, he had challenged the stoic agent to a taijutsu match and was not disappointed. They had been at it for half an hour now, neither one letting up on the other.

Tera was strong and he always had a counter ready for Naruto's moves, not to mention his blows were anything but gentle. Naruto knew he was a Nara and was impressed with how the guy's mind worked at incredible speeds in the heat of battle. However, Naruto's body was faster than the Nara's mind and he was able to move into the defensive fairly easy. If they had not limited the match to taijutsu only, Naruto would have won ages ago with the help of the Hiraishin.

When Naruto had first begun his fuinjutsu training he had not believed he would be able to recreate his father's prized technique but after Kyoko-sensei revealed it was based on Uzumaki fuinjustu seals shown to the Yondaime by his wife, Naruto had studied day and night with at least 50 clones until he could do it.

At the moment he could only move across half the length of Konoha, had to rely on the tri-pronged kunais to perform it and still hadn't fully integrated it into the _Rise of the Phoenix _style, but he was rapidly improving.

Dropping to the ground and delivering a sweeping kick towards his opponent that forced the older boy to leap back, Naruto saw that Tera had tried to catch him with his shadow. ROOT shinobi rarely played by the rules, he supposed.

Grinning, he slipped one of his special kunai out of his holster and timed the throw perfectly for when Tera shot towards him with a rock encased fist. Time seemed to slow down as the kunai narrowly missed Tera's face and the agent realised his error just a second too late before he was slammed down into the ground, Naruto knelt with a kunai to his throat a moment later.

"I concede."

"Hehe wise move, my Nara friend." Tera only sighed as he looked up and saw the bright, victorious smile the young Namikaze was giving him.

"Namikaze-san, my name is Tera. I am not a Nara and ROOT operatives do not have friends."

"Whatever you say, Nara-san. Good match."

"Good match, Namikaze-san."

Naruto helped the young Nara to his feet and they both turned as they heard footsteps enter the clearing, unsurprisingly, it was Kyoko-sensei holding a large file of paperwork.

"That was quite the display boys, I'm impressed."

Neither boy spoke but they both nodded their heads at their captain.

"Tera!" She barked, causing the usually calm and collected boy to jump.

"Ye-es, ma'am?" The Nara managed to stutter out.

"Take this file and deliver it to Danzō-sama immediately. Dismissed."

Nodding, Tera took the file and vanished quickly from the clearing, leaving the two Uzumaki alone together.

"I take it you have not seen Itachi then, Naruto?" the older of the two questioned.

"No, is there some reason why I should have, Kyoko-sensei?"

"Hmm, no I suppose not. Though I have spoken with Itachi-chan today and it seems this might be his last day in Konoha." For perhaps the first time since he had met the woman she had an expression other than annoyed, mischievous or unreadable, his sensei seemed melancholic.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" There was a lump building in his throat now. This could not be happening so soon. Could it?

"I mean, you should go clean up then pay your nii-san a visit as today may well be your last chance. I've never been one for goodbyes but perhaps he will part you with some greatly needed wisdom."

By the time she had finished speaking and looked up she saw the young boy had vanished in a yellow flash of light, smiling softly to herself she turned and walked back towards the root base whilst humming quietly.

* * *

Back in front of his bathroom mirror once more, Naruto stared purposefully at his own reflection until he felt he saw the face he had been searching for. The face of Namikaze Minato staring back at him.

"Why? Why do they say that I am like you when I am helpless? Unable to do anything but standby as things fall apart around me? Is this the face of a leader? A protector!? I'm 7 years old dammit! I shouldn't know as much as I do and I shouldn't have this much pressure on me."

But meeting his own gaze once more, Naruto felt only one emotion. Shame.

"No, what am I saying? I am Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, Jinchūriki of the great Kyūbi no Kitsune, not some pathetic child. I might not be ready to lead now, but one day I will rise from the shadows and restore honour to my village. I am not Minato. I am Naruto, and I will not fail"

Grabbing his sword and heading out of the base he finally felt in control, he was no longer someone else's pawn and for perhaps the first time since becoming a shinobi, he truly wanted to become the Hokage.

In his mindscape, the Kyūbi no Kitsune was stood on all fours now, tails swishing behind him as he basked in the warm feeling of power and resolve that his host was exuding, feeling the strength of the boy's will the fox was once again reminded of a man he had not laid eyes on for hundreds of years. The Sage of the Six Paths.

* * *

Dropping down onto the windowsill, Naruto was unprepared to be met by a pair of black and red eyes he had never before seen on his brother's face- it was the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Itachi's patterned eyes bore deep into Naruto's sea blue.

"Just what are you doing?" Outsiders were rarely allowed into clan grounds and though Naruto had snuck in many times, he had never actually gone to the main clan house.

Flinching at the harsh tone of voice, Naruto steeled himself and maintained his gaze.

"I could ask you the same thing."

* * *

"So you are just going to kill them? .. All of them? Tonight?" he whispered, looking out at the moonlit village from his perch atop the Hokage Monument.

His dark haired companion turned to face him, fully clad in his Anbu gear.

"Yes Naruto, tonight I will murder my entire clan, we are ROOT shinobi and it is our duty to protect Konoha and her interests - no matter the cost".

It had taken some convincing and a few mild threats on Naruto's part to get Itachi to go to the monument with him, but in the end the Uchiha had relented. They had stayed up there for a couple hours whilst Itachi relayed to Naruto all that had passed with regards to his clan during the blonde's absence.

It was a rather unsettling story that left Naruto itching to bang some heads together.

"There's just one thing, Naruto" At this the blonde turned to face the Uchiha, not sure what more there could possibly be.

"I can't bring myself to kill my little brother, Sasuke. He's innocent in all of this and-"

"-and all the other kids in the clan aren't?" Now Naruto was getting pissed.

"Please Naruto, he's my brother! All I am asking is that you look out for him, befriend him and keep him out of Danzō's slimy clutches."

Naruto stared unblinkingly at the older boy for what seemed like a lifetime before turning back out to face the village.

"No."

"Naruto! Please stop being childish and do this one thing for me."

"Absolutely not, your little brother is a complete prick. Do you have any idea how hard it is sparring with someone so full of themselves you have to refrain from snapping their necks just to teach them a lesson?"

"Yes Naruto, I sparred with you on many occasions when you were younger."

The sharp glare Itachi received brought a much needed smile to his face.

"Look Naruto, none of us are perfect on our own. We are born to attract others to us to make up for our flaws and when we come together for a common cause it is only then that we start to walk the right path in life. You and I are Konoha Shinobi, I will always be Uchiha Itachi of the Leaf and you will always be Namikaze Naruto of the Leaf. We will always be comrades. No matter the distance between us. Sasuke will be your comrade too some day, please, show him the kindness that I have shown you."

"Why don't you save all that for your grand speech later after you murder all those Uchiha of the Leaf?"

"Please, Naruto?"

Naruto was fuming, they weren't just going to take out those at the head of the rise, they were going to kill everyone! And Itachi was going to be the one to do it before going rogue and spying on some criminal organization for the village. That was one thing, but now he wanted Naruto to play counsellor to that bastard Sasuke? Hell no. He would not do it.

Looking out at his home, though, he couldn't help but feel as though he owed it to Itachi to do that one thing.

"Fine! I will try and befriend Sasuke and failing that I will do everything in my power to at least keep him out of Danzō's clutches, happy?"

"That is all I ask. I must go now, the time is nearing but I will leave you with one last piece of wisdom: It's never been 'The one who becomes Hokage will be acknowledged by everyone', instead it's 'the one who is acknowledged by everyone will become Hokage.' Soon you will have to leave the comfort of the shadows and step out into the light. Good luck little brother, your village needs you."

"Good luck big brother, you are a true shinobi of the Leaf."

Rising to his feet, Naruto slowly walked over to Itachi and offered his hand which Itachi grasped tightly. After staring at one another for a few moments, they each vanished from a top the head of Senju Hashirama, one in a flash of yellow light and the other in a flock of crows.

Both certain that their paths would cross again in the future.

* * *

**And that's it for this time. Not much action but there will be a time skip in the coming chapters and that will be when things really start to get interesting. Also, I've noticed I haven't once said I don't own Naruto and all that stuff about it being Masashi Kishimoto's but I'll be going over and cleaning up the first few chapters soon anyway so I'll put that at the beginning, though I don't see the point on a fanfiction website. Well, let me know what you think and until next time!**

**Winnieflutters**


	5. Chapter 5

**Greetings all.. I was going to take some more time with this chapter but I got carried away and really just wanted to get it out there. Thank you again for the reviews and also the new favourites and follows. There's one review in particular I would like to address before I begin.**

**'Flying Raijin': Thank you for taking the time to point out a few things about the Hiraishin technique. First with the whole flash thing, I just figured that since Minato gained the name because of the blonde hair that was seen when he performed it that it would have the same sort of "flash of yellow" appearance as when Naruto performed it. I didn't mean a big flash like lightning but perhaps I can go back and word it a bit better. **

**Next, I'm aware that it is essentially tied into the summoning technique but I am going on the basis that the summoning technique is something that requires a specific summon seal and blood contract and therefore fuinjutsu has to be involved somehow, and as that's the big Uzumaki area I figured they would have knowledge on the intricacies of summoning and what I assume would be a harder level -self summoning . I made the assumption that Minato had not met Tobirama so I used his Uzumaki wife as someone that could pass on the information that the Uzumaki knew the intricacies to that harder type of summoning and leave the intelligent man to go off and work it out, perhaps gaining access to some of the Nidaime's notes or something. They never say how Minato learns it so it seemed like a legit explanation to me. It then goes on that Naruto would have to shadow clone spam to learn it (clocks up to a crazy amount of time studying), essentially recreating it from scratch because of his inability to access the notes where the method would be spelled out.**

**Also, it is never hinted that the Nidaime knew fuinjutsu but it also isn't said that he doesn't. Considering Minato's guard have to perform it together I thought that not just every Tom, Dick and Harry that could perform one seal could use the technique and you had to have some ability in the realm of fuinjutsu to do it. But I think it really is individual interpretation of the information we are given.**

**Please don't take my response as negative, I like to hear others opinions, particularly when they're backed up and if anything you've encouraged me to take some more care in the future to explain my reasoning behind how the way things work in my stories. I am looking forward to a response, maybe PM me and we can debate it? **

**Anyway, without further ado.. Chapter 5!**

* * *

His eyes snapped open, he was panting heavily and sweating profusely. A nightmare. It didn't help his breathing that he was in a dark, underground, windowless box room either. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes and his heart nearly stopped altogether.

Standing at the end of his bed with her arms folded and face frowning, Kyoko-sensei was fixing him with a hard stare. The red stone around her neck throbbing lightly and emitting a deep glow, his own necklace matching it's behaviour.

"I sensed distress." she answered monotonously to the silent question before turning on her heel and marching out of his room. She didn't even bother to ask if he was alright.

"Crazy bitch" he mumbled to himself before flopping back down and turning on his side. There was no way he would be able to get back to sleep now, not when he had just experienced a vivid dream of what was going down at the Uchiha compound perhaps at that very moment.

When the sun rose in the morning there would be hushed whispers across the village, there would be panic and confusion and in some cases, relief. Most significantly, however, there would be lies as Uchiha Itachi's name would go down in Konoha's history books for all the wrong reasons and it sickened Naruto to the stomach.

Still,life would go on.. It would have to anyway. Heaving himself out of bed, he quickly got dressed and headed out into the main base._"Might as well get some training in while I'm up."_ ROOT shinobi never slacked off after all.

* * *

The ROOT operative codenamed Takeo had been on his way back to his room to study after sparring with the agent codenamed Asuya when he heard a pained grunt from one of the private training rooms to the left. He was instantly curious but it was a strict ROOT rule that an agent was not permitted to enter a private room without a level of clearance that currently only 3 people had; Danzō-sama, Kyoko-taichou and Naruto.

Despite his urge to slide open the door he continued to walk on, that is until he heard another outburst.

"MOTHERFUCKER!"

Takeo froze. He knew that voice, it was Naruto. Perhaps if he knocked, the enigmatic blonde would permit him to observe his training. Although the ROOT shinobi did not talk amongst each other often, it was common knowledge that Uzumaki Kyoko was ruthless when it came to her training methods and only her students were subjected to the regime.

Some of the others had been lucky enough to be sent to her with messages when she was in the middle of training someone and had been able to see what the big deal was, which always led to excited whispers throughout the base. Takeo had not yet been so lucky and for many years he had wanted to see just how the highly-trained nin that she oversaw were worked.

Takeo was dying to see some of her training methods first hand so, uncharacteristically, he drew up the courage to knock on the door. Time seemed to slow down as he waited for a response, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face as he stood nervously outside.

"Enter." Takeo breathed out a sigh and slid open the door.

"Oh hey Takeo I wasn't expecting it to be you, what can I do for you? And why do you look so shaken up?"

Takeo's eyes were wide as he saw what the Namikaze heir was doing.

Naruto was hanging with his bare hands from what appeared to be a large, searing hot metal pole suspended from the ceiling by two chains. What was more shocking was that every few seconds various objects would shoot at the blonde from a random direction and Naruto would have to either swing the whole pole out of the way or swing himself on top of it to dodge otherwise risk falling onto one of the many spikes that covered the ground below.

Looking around closely, Takeo noticed that there were seals painted all around the room that would glow slightly before something sharp or heavy would shoot out towards the small boy. Takeo was mesmerized watching the blonde swing expertly out of the way each time, seemingly unaffected by the heat of the pole on his bare hands – Takeo could feel it from where he stood by the entrance!

"Uhh, Takeo?"

"Oh I apologise Naruto-san, I heard a pained noise coming from here and thought I might check that the person was alright." He lied, badly. So caught up in the performance in front of him.

Naruto quickly swung onto the pole and had to duck a volley of shuriken that shot out from behind him, sensing he had a couple he seconds he turned to his comrade and quirked an eyebrow at the shifty looking agent.

"And now the truth? Takeo?"

"Forgive me, Naruto-san. I wanted to see one of Kyoko-taichou's training exercises for myself." He bowed his head to avoid meeting the blonde's penetrating gaze. Expecting to be kicked out he was startled to hear Naruto chuckling softly and refocusing his attention back on his training.

"That's alright Takeo, I don't mind company. I used to do this exercise with Shisui and Itachi, it's a lot harder with more than one person up here. Believe me. Would you like to join me?"

The look on the agent's face was priceless and even the Kyuubi choked up laughing.

"_**Poor fool looks like he's been given his first treat. I see why you enjoy toying with Danzō's agents."**_

"_Maa, I'm not toying with him I just think they all need a bit of relief from the pressure's of being an emotionless drone every once in a while. They have to interact with regular people sometimes and it's creepy how much they lack social competence. He needs this."_

"Well are you coming up here or not?" Naruto shot the shinobi an expectant look and continued swinging out the way of the many projectiles.

"Won't Kyoko-taichou disapprove?" Takeo was uncertain, was he allowed to train with Naruto? Danzō-sama had not made it a rule that he couldn't.

"Ha! Of course not, she loves watching people suffer. Come on up!"

"How do I get up there?"

"Jump, stupid." Takeo shook his head, of course. He was just so shocked he wasn't thinking straight. Feeling the excitement welling up inside him he braced himself and launched off the ground at the pole.

"_**Kid doesn't know what he's gotten himself into." **_Kurama settled down to enjoy the show, thoroughly looking forward to the next hour or so.

"_I almost feel bad."_

* * *

A few hours later, after dropping a badly bruised but clearly satisfied Takeo off to a medic nin, Naruto decided it was time he left the base. He couldn't stay in there forever and pretend that an entire clan hadn't just been murdered by his brother, he had to go to the Uchiha compound and commit to memory just what he had condoned for the sake of the village.

Slipping past the Anbu, he made his way onto the Uchiha grounds and could instantly feel the hairs standing up on the back of his neck stand up as he took in the deserted sights of the streets ahead.

It was a veritable ghost town.

Sliding through a nearby open window he walked slowly and silently through the house until he found the scene he was looking for. It was a child's bedroom, a little girl's by the look of it, he saw the blood on the pillow and shook his head. The Anbu had clearly gone round earlier in the day removing the bodies, he absently wondered how long it would take to bury them all,

It disheartened him to think how easy it was to dispose of one clan.

He continued on like that for a while, walking in and out of each house and committing everything to memory whilst being sure to stay out of the Anbu's senses. At last he reached the home he had been to just the night before, the clan head house. Moving through the corridors he smiled bitterly at the many family pictures that lined the walls, how strange it was to see Itachi with a different family.

By the time Naruto had made his way around the entire compound it was quite late in the day but he felt he wasn't ready to go back to the base yet. If he saw his master too soon he might just try and kill the man, instead Naruto went and sat down by the river for a couple hours just staring at his own reflection in the water. It was somewhat relieving to just study his own face, he had been wearing a mask for as long as he could remember, first to cover the pain of neglect and then later to cover the pleasure at having a home and a purpose.

He had never been allowed to just be Naruto. To express himself how he pleased.

"Ah well, not everyone gets to live the free life."

"_**You're telling me."**_ Kurama huffed in his mindscape.

* * *

Re-entering the base, Naruto decided he was calm enough to visit his commander and made his way to Danzo's chambers. Knocking lightly he was annoyed that he didn't receive an immediate response so he keyed his blood signature into the seal on the door and slid it open to scan the room.

The old man wasn't in there.

Naruto was confused now. Danzō would usually be in there waiting for Naruto at this time to give him a politics lesson. Realising he wouldn't get any answers in there, he locked the door and made his way to his sensei's chambers. She knew everything, that woman.

Turning a corner he was unprepared to run straight into the very same woman he was looking for, "sensei, do you know where Danzō-sama is at the moment?"

She ignored him and kept walking.

"Sensei?.. Sensei!?" Why did she have to be so difficult all the time?

"The laboratory on level -5" She called over her shoulder after a few seconds.

Satisfied, Naruto turned to take the corridor that would lead him to the staircase but just as he reached it he found his sensei standing there, blocking the way.

"What the hell?" He said in a confused tone, looking back in the direction he had just seen the red head go. "Didn't you just-"

"Naruto." She said in a dark, unsettling tone. "When I give you information without being obliged to do so, you will thank me. I do not care if you are being hounded by a pack of wolves, you will find the time to thank me. Understood?"

Naruto had forgotten just how scary his sensei could be when she was offended and was shaking slightly at the way she was looking down at him.

"Ye-es, ma'am"

"Good." With that she moved out of his way and continued off down the corridor.

He breathed out a sigh after a few seconds, she had almost given him a heart attack. Shrugging it off, he sprinted down the stairs to find out what was going on with Danzō-sama, very few people were allowed into the -5 level laboratory but Naruto had no restrictions in where he could go.

He was Danzō's favourite, after all.

Sliding open the door to the lab and strolling in, Naruto felt his skin begin to crawl and his head start to get lighter. There were several tanks on the far side of the wall containing the bodies of some of the recently slain Uchiha, all missing their eyes, and he could see jars with several pairs of Sharingan eyes being kept in them.

What was going on?

Drawing his gaze to the centre of the room he saw his commander strapped to an operating table with his arms outstretched, looking closely he realised that the man had Sharingan eyes implanted into his arms. What? This could not be happening?

"Danzō-sama, what is happening here?" he managed to get out in a dull tone.

"What do you think, Naruto? We have managed to secure some of the Sharingan eyes and are using them for testing to see if we can later breed the Sharingan back into Konoha, I have volunteered myself to have a few implanted into my arm as a trial."

"I see." Oh he saw alright. Both he and Kurama were thinking the exact same thing.

"_The man has completely lost his mind."/** "The man has completely lost his mind."**_

"The loss of the Uchiha Clan today was indeed a huge blow to our military Danzō-sama and I can see that we cannot afford to waste valuable resources."

"Yes Naruto I am pleased to see you have the right idea, your mind continues to serve you well."

Naruto nodded slightly and turned to leave the lab, trying to keep his shaking muscles under control. Once the door slid shut behind him he clenched his fist. Things were going to change around here, he just had to play the waiting game.

Disappearing into the darkness of the base, Naruto vowed that Danzō would one day pay the price for his crimes against the Uchiha. And Namikaze Naruto did not go back on his word.

* * *

_Time Skip_

* * *

It had been 5 years since the night he had truly seen the evil in his commander, 5 years since he had lost not one but 2 of his brothers to the corrupted system in Konoha and 5 years worth of torture and strenuous training with his twisted sensei.

It had been a long 5 years for Namikaze Naruto but it certainly had not been dull. His mission stats could put some of Konoha's elite to shame, he was no longer a junior in the root division and even had his own squad, Danzō had awarded him jounin status in his ranks and his sensei had finally conceded that he was officially worthy of the title 'Fuinjutsu Master'. All in all, he had grown up quite a bit.

"_**Yet you are still an academy student -the dead last I might add-, the entire village still resents you and you have made no headway with befriending that rotten Uchiha brat."**_

"_I don't like to dwell on the negatives."_

"_**Well you need to start doing something because in case you haven't noticed, you are sitting in a room full of snot nosed brats that can barely throw a kunai, preparing to take the kami-forsaken academy graduation exam! This is well beneath you!" **_Kurama hissed at his host, this was degrading, it was like if he decided to play building blocks with the Ichibi in his spare time.

"_I am fully aware of my predicament but I'm not about to stroll into the Sandaime's office and demand he promote me to Jounin now, am I!?"_

"_**You're all calm and accepting now but you weren't singing that same tune last night when you threw that hissy fit at your sensei after she told you that you had to take the exam in person and actually be a part of your team."**_

"_Can you blame me? This is the second time I've even been in this classroom! Why should I have to waste valuable time doing this pathetic exam when I could be training? And I still don't see why I have to go to team practice and take part in their missions, a shadow clone would be more than capable."_

The only reason Naruto had shown up to the exam was because his sensei had bribed him with a book. It wasn't just any book, it was a history book of sorts that held information about all the notable Uzumaki in the history of the clan and had many notes from the last leader of the clan that detailed numerous techniques passed down from those notable Uzumaki.

That wasn't what intrigued him most though, his sensei had shown him that on the last page something was sealed into the book and only his or her chakra would be able to get it out. He had no idea what it was and his sensei had told him that he could unseal it on one of two occasions, either when she gave him permission or when she died.

That had been enough to let his excitement get the better of him and he had agreed to go to the exam and participate with his team, though he had been a bit shaken up on the way to the academy by his sensei's very serious threat of castration if he unsealed the last page before it was time.

He had been poring over the large, red leather bound book when the Kyuubi had started whining about Naruto having to take the exam. Looking up to the clock he realised it was almost time to begin. At last.

He sealed the book into his palm without anyone noticing and sat up straight, waiting for his teacher to walk in. He wouldn't have much work to do today considering he had been instructed to pass as the dead last, so he was thoroughly bored at having to wait around for so long.

As he had expected the exam was disturbingly easy, which was frustrating for the young Namikaze because it was a lot harder to "barely pass" exercises he could train a bloody rock to do. After the exam the students who had passed were made to wait while Iruka-sensei finalised the team placements with the Hokage.

Naruto was well aware that he would be placed on a team with Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura as that had been Danzō's entire plan in making Naruto the dead last, he wanted Naruto to keep an eye on the sole survivor of the Uchiha massacre for any signs of disloyalty and in case he wanted to recruit the boy at a later date, not that Naruto would ever let that happen.

The blonde only wished he didn't have to tolerate the civilian girl as well, it was bad enough that he was stuck with the jerk but which deity had he pissed off to end up with a banshee on his team?

It had been 2 hours and 37 mins since the team placements and Naruto was about ready to slit his own throat.

"Oh Sasuke-kuuun, are you worried our sensei has forgotten us?"

Silence.

She giggled. "Silly me, nothing scares you Sasuke-kun." She giggled again. Naruto groaned. The pencil in his hand snapping loudly under his tightened grip.

"You got a problem, NARUTO-BAKA!?"

That was it. Lifting his head from the desk, the blonde pinned the bubblegum-haired girl with a glare his sensei would have applauded, mixing in enough KI to drop the temperature in the room by several degrees.

Even the usually cut off Sasuke spun round in shock at the intent Naruto was letting off.

"My first impression of you is.. I don't like you guys."

Naruto broke off his glare at the sound of the newcomer and turned to scowl at the man that had been causing him problems with the Sandaime for many years, Hatake Kakashi.

"Meet me on the roof in five." With that the copy nin vanished in a puff of smoke.

Naruto watched as the other two scurried towards the door, not sparing a glance in his direction to see if he was following. _"I can feel the team dynamic already." _Rolling his eyes, he climbed out the classroom window and walked up the side of the building with his hands in his pockets, glad to be out of that classroom.

Upon reaching the top he noted that the masked shinobi was sitting alone reading a book and he sighed to himself when he saw the cover. He decided not to speak to the man and just sat with his legs dangling over the roof so he could stare out over the village.

"That's quite the killing intent you have there kid." Though he did not show it, the one eyed man had been shocked that not only could Naruto do the tree-walking exercise but that he could creep up on the man without alerting his senses.

"You pick those things up quickly when you're the village pariah." Naruto responded in an even tone. The boy didn't seem interested at all. There was no excitement in his tone, no resentment, there was nothing.

Strange for a kid his age. Especially when you considered he wasn't just any kid.

A few silent minutes later, the other two students burst onto the roof panting and, particularly in Sasuke's case, trying to look unfazed by the long run up the stairs. Both sets of eyes widened when they saw Naruto sitting on the edge of the roof like he had been there all along.

Kakashi decided to break the silence and had all the students sit across from him. "Right, perhaps we should get to know each other a bit better. We can begin with you telling me a bit about yourselves; likes, dislikes and dream for the future. Pinky, you're up first."

The girl in question shuffled nervously in her seat before speaking up, "perhaps you could go first to show us how it's done, sensei?" she asked the grey haired man in a cutesy voice.

"_What? Is she retarded? Kami help me get off this team." _Naruto thought in his mind. Kurama had gone to sleep earlier to avoid listening to the pinkette swoon over the Uchiha, so Naruto received no response in his mindscape.

"Very well. My name is Hatake Kakashi and I like some things, I also dislike other things and my dream for the future? Hmm.. Right, your turn Pinky."

Although she wasn't satisfied with the answers, or lack thereof, Sakura coughed to clear her throat and spoke up once more. "My name is Haruno Sakura, I like.." She trailed off, giggling and glancing over at Sasuke before continuing "and I dislike Naruto-baka!" she grit out, shooting the blonde a glare to which he rolled his eyes, "and my dream for the future?" she trailed off once more giggling and blushing whilst peeping at the Uchiha boy who was staring intently into the distance.

Kakashi didn't comment. He figured she would grow out of the fangirlism soon enough. "Okay broody, your turn.

Sasuke grunted before speaking in a low tone, "my name is Uchiha Sasuke-"

Sakura giggled.

"-I hate a lot of things and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan and destroy a certain somebody."

By the end of it Sakura was swooning over the Uchiha and his "cool", Kakashi was giving a deadpan stare and Naruto? Naruto looked about ready to throw the self-proclaimed avenger off the roof.

"Right. Blondie, anytime now." This was what Kakashi had been waiting to hear, Naruto had been an enigma to him for years and he finally had the perfect opportunity to investigate the inconsistencies surrounding his sensei's son. He had taken his concerns over the boy's behaviour to the Sandaime but had been told he was obsessing and to leave the boy alone. Not any more.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto." The stress on his surname not being missed by the Jounin.

"I like peace and quiet." He shot the pink haired girl a dirty look before continuing.

"I dislike arrogance and ignorance." Another dirty look, this time at the Uchiha kid. That was interesting. Ignorance, huh?

"And my dream for the future... is none of your business." He shot a final narrowed glare at Kakashi and it was as if the man could hear the boy's thoughts _"I know your game, Hatake."_

The older man responded with an eye smile before clapping his hands and standing up, "well that's it for today. Tomorrow you will meet me at training ground 7 at 8am. Oh and if I were you I wouldn't eat breakfast. You'll only throw up." He gave one last smile, lingering on the scowling face of Naruto slightly longer before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Sasuke turned and headed back to the staircase with Sakura hot on his heels, begging for a date. Naruto only sighed before walking down the side of the building and heading off towards the ROOT base. Soon he could feel Kakashi tailing him so decided he would run rings around the village until he lost the man before making his way home.

* * *

Kyoko-sensei sat patiently in her office waiting for her student to return, she had spent years picturing this day and there was no way Naruto would come back happy from the team placements and she was going to enjoy every second of his misery.

As she took another sip of her tea she felt his approach, she grinned and placed the cup back down on the table. This was going to be good.

As if right on cue, the blonde stormed into her office, slamming the door behind him and flinging himself into the chair opposite her.

"Nice day, Naru-chan?"

He scowled up at her, "nice day?... NICE DAY!? Today has been possibly the worst day of my life. I swear I would love nothing more than to rip out that Haruno tart's larynx, no I'm lying, there isn't much I wouldn't give to run my sword through Uchiha Sasuke's throat!"

This was well worth the wait. Kyoko was having a wonderful time.

"And what about your sensei? He is an elite Jounin after all, well renowned."

"2 hours and 40 minutes late, that is not elite. That is unacceptable. And what does he take me for? That "likes, dislikes and dream for the future" bullshit was just so he had an excuse to question me."

"It sure does sound like it." This was better than she had imagined.

"I am not passing the second test. There is nothing you can say to me." His face was set in a stubborn frown.

Oh no, he wasn't going to ruin her fun so soon. "Okay then Naruto."

Their eyes met and neither spoke for a second.

"What?" Naruto was on alert now, there was no way his sensei would just accept that.

"I said it was okay not to pass the secondary exam."

"So why do I feel like this is a trap?"

"There's no trap. If you don't want to pass the test and complete the mission assigned to you to keep an eye on Uchiha Sasuke as his teammate, I can only assume you do not want to be a ROOT shinobi."

"What!? I .. no-"

"ROOT shinobi do not abandon missions. If you are no longer a ROOT shinobi, you are a liability and we cannot tolerate liabilities."

"I never said-"

"You are hereby stripped of all titles previously held and will have your memory wiped before being thrown back into regular society-"

"No. No! I take it back. I will complete the mission. There's no need to do that!" Some people might think his sensei was joking but Naruto knew Kyoko and she had not joked once in the 8 years he had known her. He was not about to have his memory stripped from him and be left with the brain of a toddler.

"Good. Tomorrow you will ensure your team passes Kakashi's test, more likely than not he will stick to the bell test to which the key is teamwork. Failure is not an option. Dismissed."

Nodding curtly to his sensei and walking towards the door Naruto groaned quietly to himself, "my life cannot get any worse."

"Just wait til you go on your first D- rank mission."

He froze in the doorway, D- rank mission? He had been taught that C-rank was the lowest mission level, though he had never even been on one of those before. What the hell was a D-rank mission and why was his sensei smirking at him like that?

* * *

**And there we have it! This was a transitional chapter to get us to the time skip so that the story can pick up a bit. Thanks again for sticking around to see how things play out and feel free to let me know what you think! Until next time.**

**Winnieflutters**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey there everyone! It was going to be a quick update as most of this has been written for days, but I kept going back and changing my mind about things. Also, I've written the end to the story now and I am just so excited to get there that I'm feeling pretty inspired at the moment.. The next chapter won't be far behind at all.**

**'Adharsh': Tobirama is just so awesome. I'm gonna have to really read up on him a bit more because I just don't remember him being talked about much and I'm really interested in his character. **

**'Ksunik97': I'm glad you picked up on his change in public behaviour. Read on and your questions shall be answered! :)**

**Thanks to all who reviewed and I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

Day 2. It was the second day that Naruto would have to spend with Team 7 and he was seriously contemplating not getting out of bed- ever again._"I would probably learn more here anyway, I can just tell that nosey Hatake is going to be spending too much time stalking me and not nearly enough time preparing those Genin for the real world."_

"_**So just kill him and you'll get a new sensei. Problem solved." **_The Kyūbi didn't see why Naruto felt the man deserved to live, the village wasn't going to miss one lazy Jounin.

"_Don't tempt me. No I'm going to have to use a different approach to get things done this time. I think I'll pay Hatake Kakashi a little visit before training today." _He had been thinking it over during the night and reasoned that there was no way he could keep up the stupid act and hope to get anywhere with his public ninja career. He needed a cover story for his behaviour during the academy, but what to say?

"_**I still think you should just kill him. Or better yet you could tie him up and leave him in your Kyoko-sensei's office. I don't recall you ever giving her a gift in the past."**_

"_I just want the man off my back, I don't want him out of active duty and in therapy sessions for the next 10 years."_

The Kyuubi snorted. **_"Well keep it as a back up plan at least."_**

"_Whatever." _Rolling his eyes, an action he was certain he was going to be doing a lot later that day, Naruto slid out of bed and got dressed. He had a scarecrow to find.

* * *

An hour later he strolled lightly into the clearing that held the village's memorial stone, clutching a single white tulip in his hand. Kakashi had not yet sensed his presence, _"perfect."_

"_**Let the show begin." This was going to be an award-worthy performance.**_

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto whispered innocently once he was a couple feet behind the man. The grey-haired man jumped slightly and spun round at hearing the timid voice.

"Naruto! I didn't hear you arrive, were you looking for me?" Kakashi had not been expecting to get time alone with the boy so soon, he had been unable to sleep the previous night trying to think how he could get closer to the boy and hadn't considered the child might come to him.

When he didn't get an immediate response he looked closely and saw that Naruto had a fearful look in his eye and was dipping his head slightly, it was as though the boy desperately wanted to tell him something but was worried the man would resent him. Had Naruto always been this fragile? It made Kakashi's heart drop to think that he had done such a terrible job at looking out for his sensei's son. What would the man say to him if he were here?

"_**What a sucker. Look at him. So pathetic. You've barely had to say a word. This is going to be so easy."**_

"Is there something you would like to say to me Naruto? Whatever it is I promise I won't be mad."

"The thing is.. I've been lying all this time Sensei. To the Sandaime, to my teachers.. To everyone. I don't want to do it any more sensei, all I ever wanted was to be a super cool ninja and have people look up to me instead of.. Instead of those hateful looks. I tried asking for help in the beginning but the teachers barely want to look at me let alone interact with me and Jiji is always busy and I don't have any parents and..and.."

He paused for dramatic effect and glanced up slightly to see the pained look on the older man's face.

"_Hook."_

"I know no one wants me around because I'm a jinchūriki." He had to struggle not to laugh as the man in front of him flinched involuntarily.

"Where did you hear that!?" Kakashi couldn't believe his ears, someone had broken the law and when he found out who no deity would be able to help them.

"Some drunk Chūnin told me years ago and I went and read about it in the library. Well, I sort of borrowed a book from the library, a few books. Look what I'm trying to say Sensei is that I pretended to be happy and stupid so that I could study and train alone without having to worry that anyone would try and sabotage me, I'm not nearly as dumb as my records would suggest and the truth is I was scared that whatever team I was put on would be failed because it had me on it so I did badly deliberately to be-"

"-Put on a team the council wouldn't want to fail." Kakashi breathed out. It was all starting to make sense now, the pranks and the fact he always skipped classes were so that no one would suspect him of actually being intelligent. How had the Jounin missed that?

"I felt I had to tell you because I don't want to start my ninja career out with a lie. My whole life has been a lie. Even my last name isn't right. It's not Uzumaki, It's Namikaze." The silence in the clearing was deafening.

"_Line."_

"What?" The entire world seemed to come to a halt for Kakashi, Naruto knew. He knew! "How?"

He received a deadpan stare that screamed "Are you kidding me?"

"Just look at me and consider all the facts. I will not believe it was a coincidence that the Yondaime chose a random blonde haired, blue eyed chibi of himself to be a Jinchūriki on the same night his pregnant wife gave birth. Bullshit. I am Namikaze Naruto, son of the Yondaime Hokage. Don't try and lie to me."

"Naruto I-"

"-I've had no one to look out for me my entire life and even though I have a team I still feel as alone as ever. Please, give me a chance and I promise you won't regret being my Sensei. I just want to feel as though I belong." Their eyes met and Kakashi felt his heart melt at the sight of the desperate blue eyes staring back at him.

"_**AND SINKER!" **_The Kyuubi had been chewing on some bones and avidly watching the scene unfold, being in the kid's mind made for some great entertainment. **_"And now for the finishing touches..."_**

Brushing past the frozen man, Naruto knelt down in front of the Memorial Stone and lay the tulip on the ground in front of it before lifting his hand to wipe a tear from his eyes. A bird landed on the stone and whistled out a sweet tune that put a small smile on the boy's face.

"I once overheard a woman say that white tulips were a symbol of forgiveness. I've had pain and resentment in my heart so long that it's been ripping me apart me from the inside." The tears were spilling freely now and Kakashi looked like he had been stabbed through the heart with a sword of ice.

"_**I'm definitely adding this memory to my Ultimate Collection" **_Kurama was clutching his side and laughing heavily. This was a magnificent performance.

"But I'm a ninja now and it's time I let go. Despite what they did to me I know that they loved me and one day I will get to rush into their arms and feel their love surround me. Like how the wind surrounds the trees, gently caressing it's leaves." He lifted his hand slowly and stroked the small bird before watching it fly away.

"_**Someone get this guy a podium and a violinist." **_

Naruto turned and lifted his tear lined eyes to meet Kakashi's guilt ridden ones and choked out a soft whisper "I don't want to have to pretend any more." He sniffed before casting his eyes back to the ground nervously.

"_**And the award goes to... Namikaze Naruto!" **_Watching as Kakashi tried to collect himself, Naruto took a moment to step into his mindscape and give a deep bow to the Kyūbi, who was clapping loudly and whooping. The blonde grinned, they didn't get moments like this often enough.

"You won't have to, Naruto. You're a Konoha shinobi now and we look after our own.

* * *

That had been a week ago and, frankly, Naruto didn't believe a word of it. His team had somehow passed the second test and he had finally found out what a D-rank mission was. The last time the Sandaime had seen anyone ballsy enough to glare at him like that he had been fighting on the front lines of a war.

Currently, Naruto was shovelling horse manure from one side of a field .. to the other. _**"I feel like I've said this enough times that you should have done something about it already but THIS. IS. BENEATH. US."**_

Naruto started twitching, which caused Sakura to scurry fearfully from him. _"Do not start on me again. I am almost at the end of my tether and if I don't get a mission soon I swear I am going to start attacking the villagers that request these CHORES."_

"_**So hurry up and get a mission already. If you don't kill something soon I am going to keep you **_

_**up day and night doing impressions of your pink haired teammate."**_

Naruto was about to retort angrily when he was jolted out of his mindscape by the sound of Sasuke's voice.

"Oi dobe, stop standing there with that stupid look on your face and hurry up."

Looking from his shovel to the Uchiha, Naruto's mind was already made up. Moving faster than the other boy could follow, he swung the heavy tool straight for the boy's face, only to growl disappointedly when it was intercepted by their "sensei."

"Now now, that is not how team mates behave. Sasuke apologise to Naruto. Naruto has been working the fastest all day, a moment's rest is fair enough."

"Hn."

Kakashi sighed.

"Naruto apologise to Sasuke. We don't attack our comrades."

"Not a chance."

The man sighed again. When would these two start to get along?

"Apologise to Sasuke-kun! How dare you attack him, idiot!" Sakura screeched at the blonde.

"I will rip your-"

"Naruto!" Kakashi scolded. This day was not getting any better. "All of you get back to work."

Kakashi sat to one side and pulled out his book, pretending to read it while he considered all that had happened since Naruto's confession at the Memorial Stone the week before. Kakashi had awkwardly tried to reassure the boy that he would not be punished for hiding his ability before he went to report to the Sandaime.

The aged Kage had been quite surprised that Naruto had been training alone but was also relieved that the boy was more like Minato than they had originally thought. It was worrying that he knew about his Jinchūriki status and heritage but they reasoned he had to find out sooner or later. In the end he had told Kakashi that they had failed the boy enough and that he should endeavour to look out for the Namikaze heir a bit better in future. Nothing more had been said on the topic since, though the Sandaime requested regular updates of his team's progress.

The issue now was actually getting the 3 kids to resemble a team. Sasuke and Naruto were constantly at each other's throats and Sakura's obsession with the Uchiha didn't help. Kami what was he going to do to fix the team dynamic, he wished his Sensei was around to give him some advice.

Watching them leave at the end of the day, not looking any more amicable. He started to wonder if he was cut out to be a Sensei in the first place.

* * *

Trudging back to the base, Naruto found himself thinking about the first time he had been allowed out of the village. It had been a B- rank mission to negotiate re-establishing a connection between ROOT and a powerful crime lord and his organization that was terrorizing a small country near Kumo at the time. His team consisted of Kyoko-sensei, Itachi and himself though they had to use their ROOT codenames outside of the village; Houou, Karasu & Tatsuru.

"_Tatsuru! Pay attention. This will be your first time out of the village and I won't have you screwing it up."_

_The small 6 year old blonde had been so excited to finally be going on a mission that he had started daydreaming about how awesome it would be while his sensei was debriefing the team._

"_Right, to summarize; we will meet with the leader of the organization 'Kyojin' and listen to his proposal to do business with ROOT. If his proposal sounds profitable we will accept and begin making plans to station some of our agents in the area, which will also give us a stronghold near Kumo. If his proposal is unsatisfactory then we kill him and take control of his organization, choosing someone amongst his ranks to be our pawn. Understood?"_

"_Hai." Karasu responded. Houou waited a moment for Tatsuru to respond but he seemed to be going over her words in his head and deciding if he understood or not._

"_Is there a problem Tatsuru?_

"_Well uh .. I don't get it. Why do we have to kill him if we don't like his proposals? Can't we just work with someone else?"_

_Houou sighed. "That is because if he makes demands we have no desire of meeting, he will soon become an enemy and a liability when we don't stick to our end of the deal. Better we kill him and promote someone that will be easier to manipulate without having to compromise our goals. Understood?"_

"_Yeah I think so." It was Karasu's turn to sigh._

"_You are supposed to say 'hai' or 'yes ma'am' Tatsuru. You must always show respect to your superiors."_

"_Oh okay I'll remember next time, but why do I have to be Tatsuru before we've left the fort, why can't I be Naruto?"_

"_You need to get used to the name Tatsuru as it will be your second name from now on. And this is not a fort, it is a base." Karasu was smiling at the young boy but was beginning to get frustrated, Tatsuru had been constantly asking questions since the day he had joined and he rarely accepted the answers without argument._

"_But-"_

"_-TATSURU!" The boy jumped. Houou-sensei had stood up and slammed her palms on the desk, causing all the paperwork that was on it to fly everywhere. The torches had all gone out in the room and a strange red glow had surrounded her person, providing the only light source. Her hair was flailing behind her as if she was a being possessed and her eyes held flames in them that promised pain. "You will answer to that name until we return to the base. You will show respect to your superiors and you will BEHAVE LIKE A SHINOBI AT ALL TIMES. AM I UNDERSTOOD?"_

"_Hai!" The poor boy was frozen in place, terrified to even blink for fear of incurring his sensei's wrath._

"_Excellent." She had sat back down calmly and taken a sip of her tea, the torches were re-lit and her papers were all somehow back on her desk and stacked neatly. The shaken up Tatsuru turned to Karasu to see if he was affected and was shocked that the older boy held a blank expression on his face. _

"_Pack for a 7 day all round trip and meet me at the southern exit tunnel, you have half an hour. Dismissed."_

_Running through the base, Tatsuru couldn't keep the grin off of his face. Today was the day he would set out on his first mission and prove himself worthy of the title 'Shinobi', Danzō-jiji had told him that being a shinobi wasn't all about saving princesses and being a hero and that if he would ever hope to understand the great sacrifice that was shinobihood he would have to go out into the world and experience the cruel reality of it first-hand._

_Tatsuru couldn't wait. He knew that his village was as full of evil as it was good and he wanted to grow strong enough to maintain the balance and ensure it's survival. The boy held no real love for Konoha but his parents had died so that it would stand and he wouldn't make their sacrifice and his early years of suffering for nothing. Konoha would stand even if he had to hold it up on his own._

_Bursting into his room to pack his things, the grin not having slipped from his face, Tatsuru paused to look at his sword resting on the edge of his bed. Lifting it slowly and drawing the dark metal blade from it's sheath he ran his fingers gently across it and his face settled into a sad smile._

"_I am Namikaze Naruto, shinobi of the Leaf." They had taken his childhood, they had taken his family, they had even tried to take away his rightful name. _

_They would not take away his Shinobi status. He would not allow it._

_Changing into his armour he considered himself in the mirror. "Kami, I look so bad-ass right now."_

_The Kyūbi snorted in the young boy's mindscape and wondered to himself, not for the first time,why he had acknowledged the boy as a worthy host. Watching as the boy raced to the Southern exit he found himself reminded of another passionate, spiky haired individual. **"So different yet so alike."**_

_The trio had managed to slip out of the village easily enough and were now aboard a small ferry boat that would take them to their destination. Tatsuru was sitting on the edge of the boat and gazing out at the open sea, encapsulated by it's moonlit beauty. _

_So engaged was he in the eternal waves that he did not feel Karasu approach him from behind. "Tatsuru, you have not eaten and as you well know that could hinder you if we enter a combat situation, come inside and have something."_

"_Forgive me nii-san, the sea is just so free and full of mystery to me. I had not realised I had been sitting here so long."_

"_Tatsuru, be careful with your words. You must call me Karasu when we are on these sorts of missions. I see that you are truly having your eyes opened to the beauty of the world so I will permit you to stay out here for a few more minutes. Something to consider though; 'We know only too well that our actions are only a drop in the sea, but we must not forget that without any drops there would be no sea.'_

_Leaving the young boy to ponder his words and look out at the sea once more, Karasu hummed lightly to himself as he made his way back to the lower deck to consult with his sensei._

_Houou-taichō had made them disembark a small way out from the mainland and run across the water to enter the foreign land from a different location so that they would not be spotted by enemy nin. _

_It was as they approached the land that Tatsuru once again decided to voice his confusion. "But Houou-sensei, I just don't get it! If this guy is supposed to be welcoming us to do business, why wouldn't he have sent someone to greet and escort us back to him unharmed?"_

"_Shut up, Tatsuru." Houou had explained to Naruto repeatedly that those customs did not apply to underground crime lords but he would not let up. _

"_But sensei-"_

"_No. Shut up. This is the last time I will say it: yes a welcome party is usually sent out, no we will not be meeting the welcome party, yes we will be meeting Kyojin's leader and NO we cannot trust him to greet us warmly even though he is a potential business partner. There is every chance he will have sent assassins to take us out before we hit the mainland and I won't risk it just because you want to be greeted with a horse drawn carriage and your own fucking parade."_

"_Fine. I get it." The boy huffed, missing the dark look thrown his way as he scanned the forest they were approaching for signs of activity._

_Karasu remained silent throughout the run to the mainland, thankful on Tatsuru's behalf that Houou-sensei wouldn't deal with the boy in her usual manner for fear of drawing attention to their location. They were wearing suppression seals that allowed them enough access to their chakra to run across the water so that they would not be sensed by any shinobi in the area. _

_They had ran for about half an hour before Houou-taichō stopped in front of a seemingly random tree and began running her fingers over it. Tatsuru was about to question loudly but had his mouth clamped shut by Karasu before he could even take a breath. _

_Looking up into his brother-figures face he saw the older boy lift a finger to his lips to motion for him to remain silent. Nodding slightly he took a light breath when his mouth was released and looked back at Karasu questioningly, Houou-sensei had still not turned around and was carefully examining the tree so Karasu signalled for the younger boy to reach out with his senses._

_Tapping into the Kyūbi's chakra he was instantly hyper aware of his surroundings._

_They were surrounded._

_His battle training kicked in and he quickly zoned in on each enemy nin's location and chakra capacity, trying to gauge their level based on their chakra development. It appeared to be mostly Chūnin and judging by how relaxed they were, they were not aware they had the ROOT nin in their midst._

_Suddenly his sensei sat down in front of the tree and bit her thumb, spreading the blood across the bark before rapidly running through a long series of hand seals ending in the Tora seal. His eyes widened as intricate seals spread out all across the trunk of the tree and disappeared as quickly as they came. As he blinked a door opened up at the base of the tree. _

_It was a secret tunnel. How had his sensei known it was there?_

_Wisely choosing to wait til later and ask her, he followed Houou-taichō and Karasu into the tunnel, starting slightly when the door closed behind them. He was on high alert now and this was no simulation test. He could not afford to miss a single thing._

_The tunnel was long and dimly lit by torches lining the walls, much like the current ROOT base. He felt his heart rate pick up slightly as he could tell they were almost at the end, a large metal door was in sight and it was enough that his excitement picked up once more. He was ready for whatever was behind there._

_Just as they reached the door, Houou-taichō turned to pin Tatsuru with a stern look, warning him not to mess up. He nodded in return, not turning from her gaze. Seemingly satisfied, she signalled Itachi to be prepared and placed her hand on the door._

_Yet again an intricate array of seals spread out across the door, flaring a deep red before blowing a massive opening in the Titanium structure. Pausing to allow the smoke to clear, Houou-taichō calmly stepped into the room with her hair swaying behind her._

"_My my, what do we have here?" Her voice was menacingly sweet as she sauntered past the many scientists in the underground lab, making her way to a now trembling man at the head of the room with Karasu and Tatsuru in tow. "Jomei, old friend, I had not been expecting to find you here."_

_Tatsuru recognised the man from his picture in the ROOT records, he was an incredibly intelligent scientist who made powerful explosives for the ROOT division, however, he should not have been here working with the Kyojin organization without Danzō's approval. The man's days were officially numbered._

"_Ho-Ho-Houou" he managed to stutter out, shrinking down against the back wall and cowering from the masked woman's gaze, "I..I..I was blackmailed into working for Kyojin, Bishamon he..he took my family and he..he has them held hostage, he says he will turn them over to wild bandits if I don't create all these explosives to sell to the Great Villages, beginning with Kumo. Please, I am s-sorry and I will tell you everything I know. Please Ho-Ho-uou."_

_Tatsuru moved around the many worktops, taking in what the scientists had been up to. He noted that each time he got near one of the frozen men they would flinch, he didn't like instilling fear in people that were being used against their will but this was the life he had signed up to and he wouldn't show weakness here._

_Houou did not speak for a few moments and Jomei faltered under her gaze, he was a blubbering wreck at her feet pleading for forgiveness. Eventually she clicked her fingers and all the other men in the room lined up against the walls._

"_Yes Jomei, you will tell me everything you know. Starting with Bishamon's game in inviting us here."_

_The man nodded fervently, clearly relieved that Houou had decided not to kill him. "Umm Houou-sama what about my f-family?"_

"_We will deal with that later. You have my word. Now talk." And talk he did, it seemed the meeting with Bishamon, Kyojin's leader, would be rather interesting._

_Bishamon made a rather imposing sight sat in his 'throne of skulls', his thick, muscular arms were constantly bulging and he wore only a think sash of leather across his broad and hairy chest. On each hand he wore a pair of rusty, blood-stained knuckle dusters and on his large bald head he wore a helmet with two horns sticking out of each side. _

_Directly behind him the fireplace was lit and he had two of his thugs stood either side of it, each carrying an axe and doing their best to look intimidating, though they were trembling slightly at the terrifying sight in front of them. _

_Not Bishamon, but Houou._

_She was sat opposite Bishamon across the long wooden table and had a small red-headed boy stood beside her, seemingly unaffected by the tense atmosphere. The woman was exuding a huge and raw amount of power and all she was doing was sipping a cup of tea she had pulled from seemingly nowhere whilst staring-they assumed anyway as both her and the boy wore masks- straight into Bishamon's bloodshot eyes._

"_So let me get this straight, Bishamon-san." She whispered sweetly, tilting her head slightly to consider the hulking man sat in front of her, "you would like me to reveal the locations of our nearby bases before you decide to do business with us?" Her tone of voice was calm but held a hint of warning to it that was currently rubbing Bishamon the wrong way._

"_You heard me woman." Bishamon growled out at the red-head, "I won't have you and your people thinking you can walk all over me and come in here like you run the place. I wanna know everywhere that you will have your people stationed so that I can keep an eye on things and make sure you aren't screwing us over. Got it!?"_

"_No. You can consider that request officially denied." Houou had stood up now and was slowly making her way down the table to where Bishamon was leant back in his chair and eyeing her menacingly, baring his yellow teeth at her with a small growl."_

"_Take one more step bitch and my men here will cut you down where you stand."_

_Houou chuckled softly and the guards in the room were incredibly unsettled by her calm demeanour, no one ever behaved this way in front of Bishamon. No one who was alive to boast about it anyway._

_Despite her chuckle, the woman had stopped walking and the two guards couldn't help but smirk at seeing her act in her place. They quickly felt a cold chill down their spines though as she turned towards them, having noticed their smirks._

_Turning to walk back to her chair, she settled down and crossed her legs before taking a sip of her tea and looking back at Bishamon once more. "Will you work with us or not, Bishamon?"_

"_Don't try that threatening tone with me you bitch, I've made my terms clear and that's the end of it."_

"_Hmm, is that so? Tatsuru." She did not need to say another word as Bishamon watched with wide eyes as the small boy vanished from his position beside the woman and the bear-like man spun round when he heard both his guards drop to the ground behind him, their axes clattering on the ground beside them. Dead. Throats slit. Spinning back around he saw that the boy was now stood beside his master and was re-sheathing his sword, perfectly calm. _

"_I have a different idea, Bishamon. You are going to provide me with the details of all of your 'business associates' and you are going to sign over all of Kyojin's assets to our organization. Then you are going to die. We can't tolerate liabilities, as you can imagine. How does that deal sound to you?" The menacingly sweet tone she had used before was gone and her voice was pure venom as she removed her mask and stared straight into Bishamon's eyes. The man blanched at the steel look in her violet eyes but was not about to back down to a woman on his own turf._

"_Ha! You think those guards are all I've got. You and your brat are finished. This whole place is surrounded by Kumo nin just rearing to drag your pretty butt away."_

_She chuckled once more and this time the man felt a sick, foreboding feeling in the pit of his stomach._

"_Oh really? Tell me, where are these Kumo nin to help you now? Also, did I mention that we killed 14 spying ninja on our way in? Couldn't have them interrupting our meeting now, could we?" She took another sip of her tea and clicked her fingers._

_Bishamon was unprepared as strange characters suddenly spread out across his body, binding him to the chair despite his most violent efforts to break free of the invisible force. The boy! He had moved from his place again. He must have gotten behind him somehow. Bishamon didn't have long to dwell on Tatsuru's whereabouts though as a figure dropped down into a crouch on the table in front of him, encapsulating the man in his strange red and black eyes._

_The man almost immediately fell into unconsciousness, the last thing he heard was the commanding voice of the red haired woman. "You will meet my demands. The negotiations are over."_

_It hadn't taken long for Houou to interrogate the man for information while Itachi forged all the necessary documents to write over Kyojin's assets. She had put Tatsuru on guard duty while they ransacked Bishamon's base and it was a good 20 minutes before a small red blur burst into the room "2 squads from Kumo fast approaching from the North. Mostly made up of Chūnin. 5 minutes til arrival. Order's ma'am?" he got out quickly and succinctly. _

"_It seems we've ran out of time together Bishamon." She whispered to the bound man, the man was covered in blood and panting heavily. One of his eyes had been gouged out and he was missing both hands. Houou plunged a kunai into the crying man's throat and turned to her student. _

"_Tatsuru! You will hold off the enemy while Itachi and I finish up here and destroy this base. You must not fail, we will be with you as soon as possible. Understood?"_

"_Hai, sensei!" With that the small boy vanished from the room and set off at full speed to engage the Kumo nin. His adrenaline levels rapidly rising. This was the excitement he had been waiting for!_

"_**You and me both brat. You and me both. Right, listen to me! Don't just go jumping into their midst with your fists raised, you need a strategy. You'll have to catch them off guard. I can tap into your senses and watch your back for you as well so this should be a piece of cake. Got it, kit?"**_

"_Hai! Thanks, 'Rama."_

"_**For the last time, don't call me that." **The boy always ignored his protests to the nickname._

"_Hehe, let's do this."_

_Landing lightly on a high branch where he could see the approaching nin, Tatsuru slipped a shuriken out of his holster and timed the throw perfectly. The shuriken hit a tree branch narrowly missing one of the rear-shinobi's head as the others quickly tried to get into a formation and sense where the danger was coming from._

_It was too late._

_Tatsuru brought his hand up into a seal and the shuriken exploded upon contact, taking off the unlucky target's head and blowing back those that had tried to move closer to the victim. As they were distracted by the huge explosion, he dropped down behind one of the others and drove his kunai straight into the woman's solar plexus._

_Leaping back to dodge a wild punch he dropped into a crouch and swept a different attackers feet out from under them, quickly getting in close to slam his palm into the man's chest. The other kumo nin's eyes widened as their comrade suddenly turned rock hard, frozen in place, one of their group gasped as the small masked boy then smashed his fist into the man, causing him to shatter into many bloodied pieces._

"_Three down, five to go." The boy mentally noted._

_Side stepping out of the way of a sword shoved his way, Tatsuru spun on his heel to deliver a kick to the woman's head but she was able to duck and ram her kunai into his chest. He burst into smoke._

"_Shit it was some sort of clone! Where has he gone?"_

_The 5 shinobi moved into a small circle, back to back, whilst they scanned the trees for some sign of the enemy shinobi. None of them could move fast enough as a hand burst out of the ground and dragged one of the shorter ones down into the earth. On instinct they had all jumped away so none could act as the boy's head was swiftly detached from his head. The attacker having vanished once more._

_The four were about to retreat but suddenly, as one, they all collapsed to the ground. Dead._

_Tatsuru stepped out from behind a tree and frowned at the new arrivals. Houou and Karasu were now leant casually against a tree and staring impassively back at him._

"_I had that under control! I was totally gonna take out 2 squads on my own!" He whined at his sensei._

"_That cockiness of yours will get you killed if you don't watch it, brat." Houou responded evenly, though her tone was light and playful. "Come on, the mission is complete so let's get out of here. Karasu."_

_Karasu, who had appeared by Tatsuru's side and was ruffling the younger boy's hair and chuckling at the groan he received in return, quickly vanished and gathered all the deceased shinobi in a small clearing nearby before taking a step back. _

"_Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!" He called out, watching impassively as his jutsu destroyed the bodies of the kumo nin._

"_That... WAS AWESOME! You are so teaching me that when we get home!" He heard Tatsuru call out excitedly. Motioning for the boy to follow, Karasu made after his sensei who had long since disappeared into the trees. _

_Looking back at the burnt bodies, Tatsuru's starstruck face turned into a frown slightly but he shrugged it off and ran off after his team. It was time to go home and learn some new jutsu._

"_**No one would believe you had just taken out a Chūnin squad if they saw that stupid, childish look on your face. Always changing emotion, you're a hard one to pin down Namikaze Naruto."**_

"_Isn't that why you like me, my nine-tailed friend?"_

"_**I don't like anyone." **The great fox replied in an amused tone._

"_Whatever, liar." The fox could only sigh as the boy appeared in front of him and stuck his tongue out. Being stuck with the kid wasn't going to be boring at least._

Jolting out of the memory, Naruto was feeling a slight bit calmer and somewhat inspired, things were so different now and not at all how he had once imagined but he still had hope. Sitting at the end of his bed to unseal his sword and running his hand across the dark metal blade once more, the nostalgic smile he had slowly turned into a frown. He wasn't going to do this every day until the Chūnin exams in a few months, he had to get a mission and he had to get one immediately. His mind made up, he resealed his sword and disappeared into the dark corridors of the base to confront his sensei.

* * *

"Please sensei, for the sake of my sanity! Give me a mission." They were in the base's shower room with at least 10 other shinobi, all men, in the room with them- though Kyoko wasn't the least bit fazed by their presence. Naruto was not showering, instead he was leaning against the wall besides his sensei -who was rinsing a disturbing amount of blood off of her person- and pleading with the woman for a mission.

"You ARE on a mission. You are keeping an eye on the Uchiha kid and-"

"-That is not a mission, it's a push to suicide. There must be some way I can have a real assignment!? C'mon please!?"

Fingering what looked like pieces of brain tissue from her hair-

" _**How did she even-"**_

"_-I honestly do not want to know."_

_-_she finally let out a sigh and turned to face her student, who was deliberately looking in any other direction possible. Staring at him for a couple seconds, an idea came to her mind.

"Leave us." It was a barely audible whisper but the authority in her voice was enough that the other showers were quickly turned off and every other person in the room vanished, leaving the two alone.

Naruto was torn between emotions now, on the one hand he was excited that his sensei might be about to give him a mission but on the other he was terrified she might be about to attack him for being insubordinate.

"Very well.." He let out the breath he absently noted he had been holding at hearing that.

"..On this occasion I will grant your wish, there is one mission that became available earlier this evening. There are a couple catches though; 1. You will have to somehow get your team a specific C- rank mission tomorrow in order to accept this A-rank. 2. You obviously cannot let your team find out you are on a separate and simultaneous mission so will have to take extra precaution around that Hatake. And lastly 3. You will owe me one favour.

Naruto gulped, a favour? He just knew he would hate whatever it came round to be. But it would be worth an A-rank. Right?

"_**RIGHT!" **_Naruto clutched his head at the bellowed response, "_You don't have to deafen me for kami's sake!"_

"Fine. Mission details?" Yes it would be worth it, he couldn't go on with D ranks much longer.

Kyoko had at this point recommenced rinsing the blood and body tissue out of her hair and took a moment getting a piece of bone cartilage out that was somehow knotted in before responding.

"_**Seriously, what was she-"**_

"_-I'm not asking, so drop it." _Naruto still had a throbbing head from the Kyūbi's roaring and was certain he didn't want to know how his sensei had come to be in the state she was in.

"First the supposed C rank, the thing is I don't believe it has been ranked accurately.. I think it's actually an A rank as well."

Naruto perked up at that, he was going to do 2 A rank missions simultaneously? Oh yeah. He was that awesome.

"_**This is more like it." **_

"_You can say that again."_

"A bridge builder from the Land of Waves arrived in the village earlier requesting an escort back to his home. Protection from bandits, blah blah blah, typical C rank stuff right?"

"Right."

"The issue is, we have information that the Land of Waves is currently having the life choked out of it by a man whose name I'm sure you're familiar with; Gatō."

"Shipping magnate and Crime Lord." Oh yeah, this was sounding promising to the Namikaze heir.

"Yes. Now if Tazuna is building a bridge to the mainland then-"

"-That would make it difficult for Gatō to maintain his stronghold there."

"Precisely, and for something that important I doubt he would send common thugs after the bridge builder. He would want a guaranteed death and has enough money to hire-"

"-Missing nin." Oh he was going to enjoy this.

"_**Not nearly as much as I'm going to enjoy this, there's been no excitement lately! You can kill twice as many people to make up for it"**_

"Finish my sentence again Naruto and I will sew your lips shut with a rusty needle and strap you to a dead bear in the forest of death."

"Sorry, ma'am." Now was not a good time to get on her bad side -she was doing him a favour after all.

Seeing that Naruto was going to stay quite, the Uzumaki woman continued on.

"So I deduce that Tazuna is lying to those brainless mission desk shinobi because he probably can't afford an A -rank mission. Anyway, that isn't our main concern as I'm sure you and the copy-nin can handle a couple missing nin. As you can imagine, we don't give a damn about the Land of Waves. Your real mission is to assassinate Gatō and move all his shares and profits over to ROOT under our secret name. Gatō is a former business partner of Danzō's but it seems he's been dealing with some shady characters we cannot tolerate a connection to. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am."

"I will be assigning agents Tera & Sai to assist you from the shadows if necessary."

"Understood."

"Good. Now pass me a towel."

Reaching into his kunai holster Naruto quickly henged one of his weapons into a large fluffy towel and handed it to his sensei before excusing himself to go get some rest, he had to get thinking on how he was going to get that "C- rank" after all.

* * *

It was that tricky clause that Naruto was pondering as he ate his ramen at Ichiraku's stall, he didn't particularly like ramen but the gentleman who owned the stall, Teuchi, had been particularly kind to him when he was younger and Naruto had made it his business to be the stall's number one customer as his way of saying thanks. He didn't exactly dislike the dish and the Miso Ramen was actually pretty good so it was no problem for him. He only ever went at night though so that other patrons wouldn't be turned away at his presence but he ate enough food keep his title as number one customer.

Ordering another bowl, he immediately wished he hadn't as he felt a familiar chakra signature approach him. Hatake Kakashi. _"What does he want now?!"_

"**_Beats me, it won't look good if you cancel your order now and he'll probably follow you anyway. Might as well indulge him a bit."_**

"_Tch, he really is starting to grind on my gears again."_ Ever since Naruto "spilled his heart out" to the man at the memorial stone, the man had made it his business to go looking for Naruto at random times and try to get past the emotional wall the boy had erected around himself. Needless to say, the visits were never welcome.

"Good evening, Naruto. You seem to have calmed down quite a bit since earlier."

"Good evening, Kakashi-sensei." He hated calling the man sensei, _"he hasn't taught me a damn thing!",_ but had long been taught by his real sensei to respect his superiors. "I suppose I've had a bit of time to think things over."

"Oh? Care to share your conclusions?"

"Sure. I've concluded that Uchiha Sasuke and I will never get along and that Haruno Sakura isn't going to change her ways until she sees her life flash before her eyes. I just want to be on a proper team and, frankly, ours is anything but. We need something to really bring us together, to really make them see that the world is so much bigger than their issues. I suppose it's differences in growing up."

Kakashi was both sad and impressed at Naruto's observations, a big part of him agreed with what they boy was saying but he wished it wasn't true. Maybe if he could take them on a mission away from the village? No, the Sandaime wouldn't permit it. They needed more time. Time would help his team, he was almost sure of it.

"You know Naruto I still don't know your likes, dislikes and dream for the future? Your real answers, not snide comments about your teammates." He probed. He was desperate to get to know his sensei's son a bit and make up for the years of neglect.

"I don't know yours either." Naruto didn't sound interested but Kakashi wasn't about to give up so easily.

"I like reading, I dislike traitors and I suppose I don't know what I want from the future." The last bit was a lie but he wasn't about to bare himself out to a 12 year old, sensei's son or not.

Naruto saw right through the lie and knew enough about Kakashi from the ROOT records to deduce that the man's dreams were probably only attainable in the afterlife. Sighing, he finished his ramen and turned to face the man.

"Hmm, well my earlier answers were the truth but I also like training and reading too, I dislike the cycle of hatred in the Shinobi world and my dream for the future... is still none of your business."

Jumping down off of his stool and ignoring the man's sad smile, Naruto started to walk off but froze when he heard Kakashi speak once more.

"He was my sensei, your father."

Naruto smiled. "I know, he must've been a pretty lousy teacher if I'm honest."

Kakashi was startled, how could Naruto know that? "Oh? And what makes you say that?"

He was surprised to hear a genuine chuckle from the mysterious blonde, "because no good sensei would allow their student to be so consistently late and utterly lazy."

Watching as the blonde walked off from the stall, Kakashi smiled to himself and looked towards the Hokage Monument, thinking of his old team.

He would get through to Naruto, the boy was his last real chance.

**Thanks again to all the reviews! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Now I know the Wave mission can get really boring to read and I was going to skip it but I thought I could get a different perspective on it so I'll be taking extra care to make sure it isn't dull. Until next time! **

**Winnieflutters**


	7. Chapter 7

**Greetings all! So this chapter is a lot longer than I had planned, I hope you find it worth the read. Just to respond to a couple reviews before we continue.**

**MangaObsession: I am just a bit silly sometimes. I have read so many fanfics where he has mastered the true henge that my brain was convinced it was a skill he had in canon. I'll just make it a thing here to keep things consistent. **

**Shinobi111: I am certainly trying not too make him boring and overpowered, hence why I haven't had him fight any high level shinobi. However, it would be hard not to make him seem strong considering he's been training in an Anbu division for 8 years by this point. I'm aiming for the strength of a young Kakashi but a bit stronger as the Naruto here has been in Anbu training since the beginning and not after being on a regular team. I hope it works. Feel free to call me out on anything that is a bit too much.**

**Vasun05: Sure I will certainly try and spread out the flashbacks and maybe cut down a bit but I need some of them to show that he's not just suddenly strong without having to learn and grow up**.

**And last but not least- Friaku: Your reviews never cease to make me smile, positive or otherwise. Thank you for continuing to review!**

**Thank you to everyone that reviewed, favourited or followed. I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Despite the torrential downpour he continued on lightly, feeling the power of his determination in every step. It was his 5th lap around the village and as each drop of heavy rain pelted against his tired body he felt as though he was being cleansed, not of his sins but of his guilt. He was a murderer, a thief and a liar- a Shinobi. He would not delude himself otherwise yet as the violent winds swept through the streets around him, as if to test his resolve, he found himself at peace once more with his crimes. Stormy nights were always a time of reflection for Namikaze Naruto.

"A murderer." He whispered to himself, tasting the cold-bloodedness of his past actions in the cool water as it hit his lips.

"A thief." He grit out, turning a sharp corner and smiling bitterly at seeing a mother comfort her child in a lit window.

"A liar." He pushed more power into each step, revelling in the aching sensation that continued to spread throughout his body and embracing the cold, harsh wind as it howled out at him, reminding him of his purpose in life.

"A Shinobi." Forcing his body to keep tearing through the wind, his thoughts turned to the two brothers he had lost to the same village he now coursed through. He let out a soft chuckle, picking up the pace once more, as the chilling cold reminded him of the bleak reality he lived in.

_"In Root, you have no name. You have no feelings. You have no past. You have no future. There is only the mission." _ He heard his sensei's voice as a piercing whisper in the wind. Those words would stay with him for as long as he lived and, like the rain, they would continue to assuage his guilt.

"A sacrifice." He breathed out, hitting another corner and feeling the burn in his heart as though it were responding to the strength of his will.

He was snapped out of his reverie as he heard an unfamiliar voice call out his name.

"Naruto-san!"

Bringing himself to an abrupt halt he turned to see Yamanaka Inoichi standing outside his home and smiling at him, so as not to be rude he gave a small salute and made to continue with his run, but was unprepared for the man to call his name once more and beckon him over.

"Naruto-san this is the 3rd time I have seen you come running past here and I must say I am impressed with your dedication to training. The village is starting to wake up though and I had hoped you would join me for a light breakfast before you went to meet your team. Though do not feel obliged to please me just because I am a clan head."

"_**Just what is this man's game? He's never taken an interest in you before."**_

Naruto nodded politely and followed the man into his home, he didn't know what the Yamanaka clan head was up to but he wasn't going to miss an opportunity to befriend the former Head of Interrogation. Danzō-sama had taught him that it was good to keep powerful friends as you may never know when you might need one to exploit.

* * *

They had been sitting in the man's office for just over an hour and a half discussing Naruto's early life and other trivial things. It seemed the clan head had heard from the Sandaime that Naruto knew of his true heritage and "burden" and the old man wanted all his most trusted shinobi to get closer to the young boy in order to get to know the real him and report back to the Hokage.

Naruto was pissed that the Sandaime thought him stupid enough not to see through his plan but at the same time it meant he would be getting a lot of powerful and influential people seeking him out- which would help him in the long run when he was ready to take the Hokage mantle.

"So Naruto-san how are you enjoying being on your Genin team?" Inoichi had been very impressed with Naruto and glad he had found an opportunity to talk to the boy. The Namikaze heir was nothing like he had imagined and was actually rather interesting to listen to. His intelligence and polite attitude had caused the older man to warm up to the young boy fairly quickly.

Naruto took another sip of his tea before lifting his gaze to meet the expectant Yamanaka's, he might not have been enjoying himself but the man did make good tea.

"Well I suppose it's not what I expected but perhaps with time my team will start to look more like a cohesive unit. The reality is that we each have very different and opposing personalities and-"

He was cut off by the sound of a loud crash from the rear of the house which caused both males to suddenly jump up from their seats and instantly draw out kunais. Without the need to communicate, they quickly and quietly made their way to the source of the noise. Standing on each side of the back doorway, Inoichi signalled to the younger blonde that he would go out first and Naruto would follow, taking out the intruder from behind if necessary.

The boy nodded in understanding and Inoichi briefly marvelled at the professionalism the boy was displaying, there was not a trace of fear in his features nor was there any childish excitement-just a trained shinobi that was ready to move at the signal. The boy was showing great promise for their line of work.

They executed their plan after another second and as both appeared in the garden, looking at the cause of the disturbance, they simultaneously sweat-dropped before turning to each other and laughing. Several crates of flowerpots that had been stacked round the back had cascaded over creating a huge pile of soft soil and crushed flowers, on the top of which sat the bane of every Genin's existence- The cat belonging to the Fire Daimyo's wife-'Tora.'

Shaking their heads and laughing at the sight, both shinobi spun round as a new presence burst through the doorway.

"Daddy! What was that noise!? Is everything alright!?"

Ino didn't notice Naruto as she ran straight towards her father, wrapping herself from the cold with a light blue blanket. The rain had stopped by this point though her blanket trailed behind her in the mud. Watching as the man comforted his "Ino-chan", a thought suddenly hit Naruto and he decided to make his presence known with a small cough.

"As touching as this is I couldn't help but notice that at hearing the signs of a possible intruder in your home, you came out here with a blanket and .. Please tell me that is not a Sasuke doll?"

Ino jumped at hearing Naruto's voice. "What the hell are you doing at my house, dead-last!?" She screamed at him, trying to hide the doll under her blanket as she pinned Naruto with a disgusted look. "I should have known you would be the one causing disturbances at night! Why don't you go back to whatever dirty hole you live in and stop pestering the rest of us."

"Ino!" The older man made to reprimand his daughter but was cut across by his insulted guest.

"Not even a blunt object, you are supposed to be a kunoichi! And it figures you would immediately accuse me of doing something wrong. If you'll excuse me, I have a dirty hole to get back to. Thank you for the tea Inoichi-sama, it was easily the best I've ever had."

Nodding at the stunned clan head and rolling his eyes as he noticed Ino struggling to cover her frilly nightgown and Sasuke doll with the small dirty blanket whilst trying to maintain her glare, Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets and strolled out the back gate of the Yamanaka compound.

Again Inoichi was shocked by the young Namikaze, he had expected the boy to fire up at his daughter for her rude accusations but he had behaved maturely and even remembered to thank the Clan Head for his hospitality before departing. The boy was certainly one to watch.

* * *

This was it. This was the moment it all rode on. Watching impassively as the Sandaime flicked through the mission requests, he waited to hear what bullshit D rank they were about to be assigned.

"Right Team 7, we have quite the selection here for you. Let me see; helping out with some gardening, babysitting some triplets, grocery shopping, painting a fence-"

"-No. No! NO! We do not want any of those missions, thank you very much. I would like to put forward a request for a C-rank mission, Sandaime-sama." The unpredictable blonde had at this point strode boldly over to the Hokage's desk and was now resting both hands down on it and staring the elderly man straight in the eye.

"Naruto we don't give C-rank missions to rookie Genin teams. It is simply not the way things are done in Konoha." He was impressed by the fire in the boy's eyes but would not endanger a Genin team just because the Namikaze heir was sick of D-ranks.

"I fully understand that Hokage-sama, however, I believe that in Team 7's case a C-rank would present the perfect opportunity to improve the team dynamic and ultimately strengthen Konoha's military. Is it not true that in the past many under trained Shinobi were sent on high ranking missions as the elite were stretched thin? I am not suggesting you relieve us of D-ranks altogether, just that a C-rank every once in a while would serve as motivation to improve as a unit."

Hiruzen smiled at his favourite blonde, the boy was putting forward a good case but it would not be enough.

"Naruto! You can't speak to the Sandaime like that!" His bubblegum-haired teammate hissed from behind him. The Sandaime didn't miss the dark look that passed over Naruto's features at hearing the girl's voice but he was impressed with how the boy handled the situation.

"Sakura-chan." He said sweetly, turning to smile brightly at his teammate, which caused a chill to run down her spine as Naruto had not smiled at her once since they were on the same team, or added a "-chan" to her name for that matter.

"I am simply informing the Sandaime that we are ready to take on something a bit more challenging. After all- you, Sasuke and I would have no trouble handling bandits and the like, would we now?"

The stress he had placed on Sasuke's name seemed to have registered with the girl as she glanced over at the Uchiha and noted that he didn't seem worried about taking a higher ranking mission. She didn't say anything out loud though as she found her voice stuck in her throat at the look Naruto was giving her, opting instead to nod enthusiastically at the Sandaime.

The Sandaime quirked an eyebrow at the unexpected response, turning to look at the team's Jōnin-sensei he decided to put the decision in the man's hands. It was unorthodox but he was intrigued by this Genin team and wanted to hear about Naruto's performance out of the village.

"Kakashi, what do you think?" The younger man was stunned that his Hokage was even considering it and was about to shut the idea down immediately, that is until he saw the pleading look in Naruto's eyes. It had only been the previous night that he had discussed this exact situation with his sensei's son, could he really deny the boy this small victory?

Sighing to himself, he met eyes with the Sandaime and nodded. "I believe Team 7 would perform well at a C-rank mission Hokage-sama and would like to support Naruto's request."

The old man smiled at seeing the triumphant expression on Naruto's face, it had been too long since he had seen some semblance of happiness in the boy's features. Pausing to enjoy the anticipation that was clear on the boy's face he eventually addressed the team. "Very well, I have a C-rank here that arrived early yesterday evening to escort a bridge builder back to the Land of Waves."

Could the boy's grin get any wider?

* * *

Sai and Tera raced on ahead of Team 7 on Naruto-taichō's instruction. Their orders were to scout for any enemy presence and eliminate the threat as they could not risk Team 7 being withdrawn from their mission if the Hatake picked up that there was a higher risk than expected.

Tera looked over at Sai and smiled beneath his mask, the other agent had not worked with Naruto-taichō before and Tera was certain he would have some of his core beliefs shaken over the course of the mission. Usually Danzō-sama would only allow select agents out with Naruto-taichō as the Namikaze heir somehow always seemed to reverse some of the strict emotional training that the war-hawk had drilled into his ninja.

It was for that reason why Naruto-taichō had been given his own squad, to which Tera was a member, who were the only 4 people aside from Kyoko-taichō that were allowed to spend prolonged periods of time with the blonde. So it had been initially surprising to Tera that Sai had been sent on this mission instead of Takeo, Hyo or Jun- the other 3 members of the blonde's squad.

Seeing the confusion in Tera's eyes after he had debriefed and dismissed the two, Naruto had invited Tera to spar with him and had revealed that Sai was Danzō's new apprentice and that it was "the old man's way of testing how well Sai has taken to his training." Tera had chuckled at hearing that, there was no way Sai would be able to resist Naruto- there was just something about him that made you feel human again.

Tera suddenly stopped behind a bush and signalled for Sai to do the same. Something was wrong. He could sense 2 foreign chakras nearby but was having trouble using his Shadow Seeker Technique, a technique that had the wielder's shadow spread out in long, thin tendrils that were drawn to nearby chakra signals, to find the hiding enemy.

Focusing harder on the technique as his mind raced trying to figure out why he could sense the chakras but not find them, the answer suddenly hit the Nara boy.

"_The water! It has to be the water, they are using some sort of concealment technique to disguise themselves as a puddle. It is a clever idea considering the rainstorm we just had. They are probably mist nin if they are using such a technique."_

So he knew how they were hiding, he just had to find out where. There were too many puddles to investigate each one individually and they didn't have too long as Naruto-taichō and his Genin team weren't far behind.

A plan began to formulate in his mind as he signalled to Sai, they would have to draw the enemy nin out of their hiding place and take them out swiftly.

* * *

Back in Konoha, the Jōnin Commander was playing Shōgi with the Anbu Commander and discussing recent events.

"So I hear Sandaime-sama allowed Team 7 to take a C rank mission earlier today." The Nara clan head brought up casually after making his move. "I must say I was surprised he would let Naruto out of the village so soon."

The Anbu commander, known as Fox-taichō, nodded silently before moving another pawn. Nara Shikaku rarely took an interest in anything that wasn't work, drink or gambling related so the commander knew to be careful with his words when the man brought up a different topic.

"I can't help but think that boy is playing us all. I'm sure you are aware of the recent revelation that he has been hiding his true knowledge all this time?" Shikaku leant back in his chair and stared straight into the other man's eyes. The Anbu Commander knew something, he was certain of it.

Fox paused before nodding again and gesturing for Shikaku to make his move.

"I must confess I have long suspected the boy of deceit, did you know he beat me at this game the same day I taught it to him? About 5 years ago?"

Fox froze in his place. An untrained 7 year old had beaten the village's Head Tactician in a war strategy game!? It was unbelievable. As were most things concerning Namikaze Naruto these days. The boy could disappear for long periods of time without leaving any sign of where he had gone, there were times he did not sleep in his apartment even, he knew many things he should not and he was incredibly too good at avoiding capture from the village elite. For a boy that had been ostracised from regular society at a young age, he displayed talents that could not possibly be purely natural.

Someone had been training the boy, he would not believe otherwise, but each time he took his concerns to the Hokage he was immediately shot down. Did the Hokage know the truth already?

"No Shikaku-san I was not aware that you were in contact with Naruto."

"Yes he comes over every few weeks to play Shōgi with me, I must say he is quite the challenger. Though the more I see him, the less I believe the reports in his file."

Fox was surprised that the man had read Naruto's file, he wondered who else had taken an interest in the blonde.

Shikaku could see the curiosity in Fox's eyes and let a small smile grace his face. "Quite the enigma our Namikaze Naruto is."

Both were silent as they pondered the same question; _Just _w_ho is Namikaze Naruto really?_

* * *

The blonde in question was quietly enjoying the sunny day as he walked with his team and their client, Tazuna, down the main road leading out of Konoha. He had never actually taken this route out of Konoha before so it felt good to be able to stroll out without fear of being seen by one of his fellow nin.

Glancing over at the client, he frowned slightly. The man was an annoying drunk and if Naruto wasn't so against ruining his perfect mission record, he probably would've killed the man himself.

Just ahead of him he saw Sakura trying to walk as closely as possible to the Uchiha heir and found himself wondering how the team would be different if he were not a ROOT shinobi. Feeling Kakashi's eyes on him from behind his mind was drawn back to the mission at hand. The mission. There is only the mission.

A shadow clone had dispelled from the base to inform him that an agent had met with Sai to retrieve two prisoners found along his current path, would-be attackers. They wouldn't be the only ones.

"_**So how exactly are we going to do this? You can't scratch your butt without that Hatake man knowing about it. He's constantly watching us."**_

"_I know. I'm hoping once we get to the Land of Waves my team will rest long enough for me to switch out with a shadow clone and deal with Gatō, I've done missions like this a thousand times so all I really need is a window of attack. I've got Tera and Sai on hand to deal with any other distractions so I can focus on the target and then quickly transfer all assets to ROOT. It's a one night job. What could possibly go wrong?"_

"_**I'm sure those words are cursed. So probably everything." **_The Kyūbi wasn't worried for his host, the more that went wrong then the more excitement there would be. Which was something to look forward to if anything.

* * *

Tera stroked his chin as he retracted his Shadow Seeker Technique, there were two enemy nin in a clearing up ahead and from what his shadow could tell; one of them was a powerful Jōnin and the other had some sort of bloodline limit. This was not good at all.

He had Sai create an ink-bird for them to scout from the sky, they had to ascertain the threat level quickly so they could report to their captain immediately.

"Quick, Sai! We don't have time to lose." He tried to think just how he was going to get a message to his captain without alerting the Copy-Nin that something was up.

"Hai!" A large, eagle-like bird made of ink suddenly sprung from Sai's scroll and they quickly boarded it.

Soaring over the clearing, both of their eyes widened as they saw what was undoubtedly Momochi Zabuza leaning against a tree, his famous Executioner's Blade strapped to his back, conversing with a younger shinobi dressed as a Mist Hunter Nin.

"_No this isn't good at all."_ Tera thought to himself as they retreated back towards Naruto-taichō's location.

* * *

Sakura had decided to take a break from getting close to Sasuke and made the uncharacteristic decision to talk to Naruto for a change. Kakashi raised an eyebrow when he saw the pinkette double back to walk alongside the blonde.

"_Perhaps there is hope for her yet." _He mused quietly before turning his attention back to his book.

"_**What the hell does she want?"**_

"_Beats me." _Naruto was not annoyed that Sakura was walking with him, it seemed she had remembered there were 4 people on the team which was good progress for her.

"Can I help you Sakura?" His tone was mild and held no hint of malice to it so Sakura simply shrugged.

"I just wanted to ask how you were?" She wasn't entirely sure why she had gone to talk with the blonde, she just felt as though she should. Naruto hadn't been anything like she had imagined he would be and a part of her felt she had judged him wrongly, only a small part though.

"I'm alright thanks. It feels good to be away from the village, seeing the world and all that. How are you?" He wasn't particularly interested but she was his team-mate and he wasn't about to discourage friendly behaviour.

"A bit scared. Who knows what we might face out here but I guess we'll be alright if we work together." She was looking nervously at the ground and it reminded Naruto how different he was from these children.

He was the same age as them but had been forced to mature and cast aside his fears many years ago, the innocence in his team-mate's eyes only strengthened his determination to one day become the Hokage. They shouldn't just hand out weapons and shinobi titles to kids when they simply weren't ready for this life.

He made a silent vow to have that practice changed one day.

Before he could respond to the girl the sound of a flare gun shooting up into the sky caused him to turn sharply. The whole team froze to watch as there was a small explosion of colour in the sky.

"_Yellow. If that's Sai or Tera the next one should be red."_

A moment later and another flare went off, this time shooting out red. Yellow followed by red was a call code for Naruto. The next flare would be white and the one after would be the main message; black for high level warning, red for mid level warning and blue for low level warning. The flare after would be the suggestion; white for retreat, green for engage and yellow for change route.

The full code read: Naruto-taichō! High level threat up ahead, you should change route if possible!

"_**Don't change route! The excitement is in this direction!" **_Kurama had a great feeling about whatever was up ahead and the last thing he wanted Naruto to do was go elsewhere.

"_I have to try and change route! I can't engage a high level threat with Kakashi around to bear witness not to mention I have 3 vulnerabilities with me! If we continue on then Kakashi will have to fight alone and I miss out on an exciting fight anyway! I've gotta get him to change route."_

"_**Tch. So they die? So what!? We'll be happier and less burdened without them!"**_

"_I can't engage anyone til I get away from them!" _He decided to ignore Kurama's huffing and address his phony sensei.

"Kakashi-sensei! What do you think that was?"

"Some sort of coded message, though I don't know who it is from or for." Kakashi was deliberating whether or not they should try and find an alternative route, the flares had come from the general direction they were heading in and he didn't want to endanger his team.

"We should go a different way. There might be high ranking nin that way." Naruto didn't miss the way Sasuke perked up at hearing him say that.

"_Of course he wants to go running towards danger to prove himself or whatever it is he thinks that will do! Dammit he better not speak up."_

"Don't be a baby Naruto. Sensei we should continue on, changing routes would delay us too much and put the client at more risk."

Naruto only groaned as he heard Sakura go from nervous to enthusiastic in a split second at hearing the Uchiha speak. "Yeah! Sasuke-kun is right, we should carry on!"

"_**For once they actually have the right idea." **_He was glad Naruto was being outvoted and could see the Hatake looking more convinced. This was perfect.

"Very well. We will continue on this path but stay vigilant." The Hatake man had a bad feeling about things and judging by how much the client was shaking, he sensed they were missing something. Though what had surprised him most was Naruto, the boy immediately wanted to take a different path, uncharacteristic considering he was the one who mostly spoke about doing more challenging missions- it was as if the boy knew exactly what the signal meant. As if it were meant for him.

Narrowing his eyes at the boy and not missing the brief side glance he received in return, he slipped his book away and gave their surroundings his full attention as they continued on.

* * *

Sliding the door shut behind him, the Sandaime considered the man sat waiting for him in the small tea room. Shimura Danzō, often referred to as the _'Shinobi of Darkness_'. The two had been friends in a Konoha very different to the Konoha of today in a time where everything was done for the greater good of the village, no matter the cost. Chuckling softly as he sat down he considered that perhaps it hadn't changed that much, they just weren't as open about their methods.

"Hokage-sama I must say I was surprised you wanted to meet for tea today, and without Koharu and Homura, most strange."

Hiruzen smiled as he poured himself a small cup of tea. "Do you remember what I said to you shortly after Minato's death? Concerning his son?"

"I believe you forbade me from inducting the heir into the Foundation. May I ask the relevance of such a question?"

"Is Naruto a member of the Foundation?" The blunt question was accompanied with a hard stare, befitting of the _'God of Shinobi'._

It would not be enough for Danzō to reveal the truth though. "No but I still maintain that he should be and would gladly begin inducting him if you so desired Hiruzen?"

The Sandaime had not yet blinked and the ROOT commander took a moment to sip at his tea, not once flinching under his old comrade's gaze.

"I fear that Naruto is keeping secrets from me and has been training with someone without my authorisation. This could be a potential threat and my men are making little to no headway with tracking him. I require you to place a tag on him."

It was all Danzō could do not to laugh. Hiruzen was asking him to spy on his own shinobi! This was perfect as it would get some of the Sandaime's men off the boy and give him more freedom to move about.

"As you wish, I will assign my best to watch him for a time and report back to you." The Sandaime nodded before leaving his tea unfinished and making for the door. He paused when he reached it and the temperature in the room plummeted as he turned around and fixed Danzō with a powerful killing intent.

" I have not forgotten your past betrayals Danzō so do not fail me here. You won't like the consequences." The old man nodded once more before leaving the war hawk alone in the room to ponder.

"Things really are changing around here." He murmured to himself before sipping his tea again.

* * *

Laying out the map on the ground Naruto took out a red marker and circled a specific spot. He was quiet deep in the woods near Tazuna's village and had Tera and Sai knelt opposite him, also inspecting the map.

After the flare warning things had taken a turn for the worst and Kakashi was currently out cold in the old drunk's house after fighting the '_Demon of the Bloody Mist'-_ Momochi Zabuza. Naruto had initially been impressed with Hatake Kakashi's battle skill and had developed just a bit more respect for the man watching the fight. That is until the man idiotically got himself trapped in a water prison and Naruto had to quickly plan and execute a diversion plan with Sasuke to break the man free.

"_It's a damn good thing I mastered the perfect Henge or that shuriken trick would have failed miserably."_

"_**It's a damn shame you didn't just fight the swordsman! How dare he call himself a Demon! I AM A DEMON! He is a puny mortal."**_

Naruto rolled his eyes, anyway, after that the fight was as good as over when the disguised accomplice showed up and took a battered Zabuza away. Naruto was certain they would return but as far as he was concerned the mission was over; Tazuna was in his house without a scratch. Job done.

If anything Zabuza had done him a favour because with his Hatake stalker recovering in bed he was free to move forward with his other mission without interference.

Which was what brought him to the present moment, he and his ROOT team were planning how to get in to the Gatō's base and bop him off.

The issue was that Gatō's base was a fortress on a small isolated island a little way out. Naruto did not have time to go all the way there as his team would be departing just as soon as Kakashi was up and running.

He had to stall for time somehow. He couldn't send Tera and Sai as Sai was mostly trained for infiltration and was still not a full field agent yet and Tera was more suited to reconnaissance, Naruto was the assassin on the team and so he had to get some more time to do his part.

Kakashi would be up within a day, what could he possibly say to get the man to stay longer? Maybe he could convince his team to stay under the guise of helping Tazuna finish the bridge?

"_**That is a fantastic idea as you will then get another chance to fight that charlatan! Demon of the mist? Pfft.. We'll show him demon."**_

"_Nope, there won't be any need for that because when I kill Gatō, Zabuza won't have an employer and so can stay out my way."_

"_**You're not planning on fighting any ninja at all, are you?" **_The Kyūbi grumbled in the boy's mindscape.

"_Of course I'm not. I am here to complete the mission. There is only the mission. Relax, you'll get your blood and gore when I get to the island."_

"_**Yes but it would be a lot better if your victims could put up a fight!"**_

"_Oh well." _That was not the way his sensei had trained him, she had always said that it was foolish to go looking for trouble when his line of work already put enough of it on his path. He would get more missions where he had to fight ninja, this was not one of those.

Focusing his attention back on the map, he pointed to the circle he had just drawn. "Right that is Gatō's base. I will visit it only once- to kill Gatō. What I need you two to do is scope the place out and find me the best entrance and exit and the best time to do so. Sai you are supposed to be good at getting in places and staying out of sight and Tera you are good at finding things out and making things work. So between the two of you this should be a piece of cake. Understood?"

He received two responses of "Hai, Sir." accompanied by sharp nods. Good.

"Next, once I take out Gatō and slip past the guards closest to him, I won't be able to hang around and transfer assets. However, I will leave several shadow clones to complete that part of the mission on my behalf but they will need guarding. You do not have clearance to transfer the assets yourself as that would require knowledge of sensitive ROOT information, so for that part you will keep watch for enemy presence while my clones do the rest. Understood?"

"Hai, Sir!" They chorused.

"Now I know it looks like I'm not doing much but I also have to stay with my Genin team in case Zabuza shows up plus I can't risk Hatake Kakashi noticing my absence. So I need a small window to get in and out of the base without anyone being able to trace the murder back to me. You've got 24 hours to report back to me with your findings. We meet here at this time tomorrow. Dismissed."

Naruto handed Tera the map and watched as the two vanished from sight. Sighing to himself, he turned and strolled lightly back to the small village whilst whistling a small tune.

* * *

Sometime later he felt a nearby presence and hid behind a tree. As he ducked down and cautiously looked out, he saw what looked like a teenage girl picking medicinal herbs just a little way away. Wait no.

"_I know that chakra signature." _That was no girl, despite what the person was wearing.

"_**It's that beguiler's accomplice. Surely you can kill him?"**_

"_Nope, wouldn't want to draw unnecessary attention. Too risky."_

"_**YOU HAVEN'T KILLED A SINGLE THING SINCE WE LEFT THE VILLAGE! WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU!?" **_This was not what the great fox had in mind for when Naruto finally got a proper mission.

"_For Kami's sake I can't act freely when I'm out with Team 7! I won't risk displaying more ability than necessary and getting caught out!"_

He once again chose to ignore the Bijū's ranting and decided to make his presence known to the slightly older boy. "I see you're picking herbs. For your master's recovery I assume?"

The other boy jumped slightly and spun round at hearing the calm voice. "I'm sorry Shinobi-san but I don't believe we've met before."

"I suppose we didn't exactly meet but I know you are an accomplice to Momochi Zabuza. Relax, I have no intention of fighting you here." He had seen the other boy reaching for something in his basket, most likely a weapon.

"We are enemies. Why would you not attack me?" Gone was the friendly tone of voice as they stared impassively at each other from opposite sides of the field.

"No. We were enemies yesterday and perhaps we will be enemies tomorrow. I don't see the need to fight today, do you?"

The effeminate boy was stunned by the blonde's calm demeanour, he was being neither friendly nor hostile, he was just making simple conversation.

"Who are you?" He breathed out, clutching his basket closer as he half expected the Konoha shinobi to suddenly attack him.

"Does it really matter? We are merely shinobi, tools in a never-ending war, can't we cross paths without it having to mean something?"

The blonde had begun walking towards him and he found himself frozen in place as the younger boy's words swirled around in his head. Before he knew it the blonde was stood right beside him, his icy blue eyes piercing straight into his own brown pair.

"War?" The older boy whispered, not sure what to make of the strange Konoha nin, ready to reach for a senbon in his basket.

"What else could we call the cycle of hatred that plagues the world we live in? If we are not at war with each other then we are at war with ourselves. It's pitiful really."

The blonde turned away from him to look at the dark grey clouds approaching in the distance. "Soon we will meet again under less civil circumstances. For what it's worth my name is Namikaze Naruto."

The brown haired boy was stunned, he knew that name. Namikaze was the clan the Yondaime Hokage had belonged to, the man was not known to have any living relatives. In his shocked state it took him a few moments to realise Naruto had continued strolling forward out of the field, spinning round he called out to the blonde "Yuki Haku! That is my name."

The blonde paused and turned his head over his shoulder to smile at the Yuki boy. "It was nice to meet you Haku-san." he said with a genuine smile on his face before disappearing in a shunshin.

Haku looked around for any sign of the blonde before a small smile appeared on his face. "It was nice to meet you too Naruto-san."

* * *

Greeting Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, as he entered the man's residence Naruto quickly made his way up to the room Kakashi was staying in to see if he had arisen. He had. Naruto could here him interrogating Sasuke and Sakura about his whereabouts.

"_The guy really needs to drop this obsession with me."_

"_**To be fair to the man, you did go missing with an S-ranked enemy nin in the area."**_

"_Still it's not good for his health to spend so much time preoccupied with what I get up to."_

"_**I suppose not. Back to important matters, are you going to kill anything tonight or should I just take this time to sleep?"**_

"_Take the time to sleep, I know I will be." _He mentally chuckled as all he heard was a growl before the mental connection was cut off.

"Relax sensei I was just training in the woods." Naruto said brightly as he slipped into the room, almost bursting into laughter at the relieved look on Kakashi's face. If only he knew he was worrying about a Jōnin level shinobi that had deliberately walked them into a troublesome mission.

"Naruto! You can't go off like that without telling anyone where. Not to mention the enemy could be anywhere at this moment! You should know better!" The man was furious, how could his sensei's son go running off like that?

Naruto merely sighed before sitting down at the end of the bed and looking Kakashi straight in the eye. "I do know better, I was in a clearing just over there." He pointed out the window to the nearby woods. "You could hear me shout from that distance. We could come into contact with enemy nin at any time and as you are injured I thought it best to get some training in, instead of sitting around idly and waiting to die." He shot a look in his team-mates' direction that was not missed by anyone.

"I suppose that's fair enough Naruto, I apologise for shouting." He looked over at the other two before sighing and resting his head back down on the pillow. "As soon as I have recovered we will make for Konoha, our mission is complete so there is no need to stick around."

This was Naruto's moment, he had to convince the man to let them stay. "We can't leave." He whispered, locking eyes with the shocked Hatake.

"What are you talking about Naruto! We could have died out there!" Sakura shouted at the blonde, she had been really shaken up since their encounter with Zabuza, understandable considering she was completely untrained.

"I'm sorry. Are we buttercup scouts or shinobi? In case you haven't noticed, there is a village out there that is slowly dying because one man thinks he is above everyone else. I've seen children begging for bread on the streets and women selling themselves for money to feed their kids. Tell me Sakura did you sign up to be a shinobi to stand around looking pretty or to protect people? As far as I am concerned, the mission is not over until that bridge is completed. What is the use in escorting the man here safely if he dies the moment we turn our backs and this village loses it's one hope at survival along with him?"

The other occupants of the room were silent as they listened to Naruto, all of them feeling the strength and fire in his words.

"This is not just about one man, it is about a whole nation. I would rather die today knowing I stood up for what was right and that I did not lose hope rather than go to bed each night, haunted by the faces of the people I left to die. Always wondering 'what if?' I will not be plagued by regret. We are Konoha shinobi, we are the ones that set the bar. Konoha shinobi do not run away at the first sign of danger, that is not what I signed up for. Even if I only protect one person before I die I will know that it was worth it."

Kakashi was stunned into silence, Naruto's words had struck some sort of a chord within him and he found himself thinking of his old team once more.

Sasuke also felt something stirring inside him, what if? He had been wondering "what if?" for many years now. "Naruto stop trying to act the hero." Despite his words he turned to Kakashi and stared him dead in the eye. "I agree with the idiot, we should stay."

Kakashi hadn't seen that coming. Turning towards Sakura he saw that she was quite nervous but wasn't prepared to speak against Sasuke. He waited til she met eyes with him and whispered "if we decide to stay, I will protect you Sakura." She seemed slightly more reassured at hearing that and nodded gently.

"Okay then, let's stay." Some confidence had returned to her voice, surprising them all.

Naruto mentally grinned, he had his chance to go for Gatō now. What he didn't notice in his excitement was that Tsunami's son Inari had been sitting by the door and listening to their conversation. The boy rushed off back to his room to ponder the blonde's words and was once more filled with hope.

* * *

That had been two days ago and Kakashi had finally recovered which made it a lot harder for Naruto to slip away as the man had suddenly become all serious and strict with the team where training was concerned. They now had a system where three of them would go to the bridge each day with Tazuna to guard the man and his workers whilst the fourth person would stay at the house with Tsunami and Inari. In the evenings they would train in the clearing outside the house before taking shifts keeping watch for the night.

He had managed to switch out with a shadow clone a few times to meet with Tera and Sai and had planned it so that his morning of guarding Tsunami and Inari would be the morning he left clones hidden around the house while he went to Gatō's island.

Naruto, Tera & Sai were currently racing through an underwater tunnel the latter two had discovered in their spying of the fortress. It would bring them into the dungeons where they had mapped out a route that would lead Naruto straight to Gatō who should, according to their observations, be getting dressed for the day. Alone.

Once inside the fortress they split up, Naruto had given each of them separate instructions. They had 10 minutes before they had to meet up with Naruto in Gatō's office.

* * *

Tera darted through the less used corridors of the fortress until he reached his destination, it was an underground room that held the mains to the sprinkler system. Naruto-taichō had given him a small vial of a clear liquid and told him to get it into the sprinkler system somehow but not to turn the system on, instead he was to transfer the seal on a small piece of paper he had been given onto the valve and get the hell out of there.

Looking around at the many valves and buttons littering the room, he realised he didn't have much time to figure things out.

"_He never gives us a real plan!"_ He groaned to himself, Naruto-taichō was a firm believer in the "just wing it" plan.

* * *

Sai was on a slightly less complicated but slightly harder to execute task, Naruto-taichō had instructed him to lock every main room or entrance in the building without getting caught. When he said lock he didn't just mean to turn a key or latch, no he wanted it so that the doors couldn't even be kicked down. Thing is Naruto-taichō didn't tell the ROOT agent just how to go about doing that and only said to "wing it" whatever the hell that meant.

Sai was used to instructions, he had been trained to follow instructions and for the first time he didn't have any beyond "just go do it." It had been strange working with Naruto and Sai found he didn't know how to react to half the things his captain said, especially when he got berated for remaining silent or giving simple responses. He had been even more confused when he saw agent Tera smirking at him, this was not how ROOT shinobi behaved. He simply did not understand it.

In the end he had decided to use a basic sealing array that Danzō-sama had taught him which would seal all the doors closed, problem was he only had 10 minutes to seal all the main doors without anyone noticing.

* * *

Naruto was on the top floor of the fortress making his way to Gatō's room. As he hit a corner he saw that the door was being guarded by 6 large men, each wielding a different and very large weapon.

"_Like ape versions of Zabuza"_ He mused.

"_**Are you finally going to kill something or are you going to befriend the enemy again? Maybe you brought cake with you as a peace offering this time." **_Kurama was pissed off, his Naruto used to get stuff done, this new Team 7 Naruto was lame.

"_Hey! I resent that. I am still me, I'll prove it to you."_

He threw a smoke bomb in their direction and took their moment of surprise to get behind one of the men and slice his arm off with his sword before grabbing the metal club the man had just dropped and smashing him over the head with it.

The Kyūbi was sat up now and was in much higher spirits, chuckling as he watched his host use the very same man's body as a step up to jump and fly kick another of the guards in the face. He was satisfied to hear a loud crack as the boy's foot connected with the man's jaw.

Naruto then dropped low and swept up an axe that had been dropped by his last victim and swung it straight for the man's sensitive spot. Kurama winced as it made contact, blood spraying around the corridor.

It was then that the other 3 guards spotted the boy crouched down and made a move to ensnare him but he was too quick as he leapt up between two of them and smashed their heads together, quickly drawing his sword and ramming it through both of their chests whilst they were dazed. Turning towards the last guard like a vicious predator he was disappointed to see the man drop his weapon and make to run.

"Oh no you don't."

He picked up a mace that was by his foot and spun it twice in his arm before hurling it at the retreating man's figure. A huge grin split across his bloodied face as the weapon hit the man in the back of his neck, ending him once and for all.

"_How long!?"_He called out to his foxy companion.

"_**Minute and a half, not bad. I think that's a record."**_

"_Sweet. Now for Gatō."_

Pausing to wipe his blood-stained sword across one of the dead men's backs, Naruto slipped quietly into Gatō's bedroom to finish things off.

The man wasn't in the main bedroom and Naruto could hear the sound of someone singing merrily in the shower. Rolling his eyes he strolled around the man's large room, inspecting the many treasures the man had lining his shelf. As he heard the shower being switched off he went over to sit on the end of the man's bed, feeling strange sitting on silky sheets with his armour on.

Oh how he wished he could have a picture of Gatō's face when the man emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in only a towel, to see a masked red-headed shinobi sitting on his bed.

Frozen in the doorway Gatō became a trembling mess. The man had not been expecting this visit so soon, he had been so careful and yet here he was. The boy that had haunted many of his dreams.

"Ta-ta-tatsuru-san what a pleasant su-surprise. Does Da-danzō-sama have a me-message for m-me?" He tried to keep his composure in front of the small boy but could feel the ROOT agents gaze on him.

"Tell me Gatō do you remember the last thing Houou-sama said to you when we visited just two years ago?"

The stout man nodded quickly and started to back out of the room, his eyes wildly searching for something to defend himself with.

"I have done no-nothing wrong! You c-can't do this Tatsuru!"

His eyes widened as he felt the boy's breath on his back and looking down he saw an onyx blade sticking out of his chest. The last thing he heard was "she said to be careful who you do business with." before the blade was wrenched out of his chest and his mind fell into darkness.

A minute or so later and all three ROOT agents were in Gatō's office, Naruto was just about to create some shadow clones when he felt a rush of memory from one that had dispelled. Bandits had gone to Tazuna's house.

"_Shit! That probably means something is going down at the bridge!"_

"_**You had better get out of here then" **_The nine-tailed fox had been a lot friendlier since Gatō's death and Naruto was glad for it, he had been turning into a right grouch.

Creating several shadow clones he barked out instructions quickly.

"You know what to do! Don't forget to put my blood seal on the documents when you're done. Sai! Tera! Guard the documents with your life. I will see you back in the village. Failure is not an option. Oh and don't forget to activate that seal when you leave Tera!" The second they blinked he had vanished out the window.

* * *

At the bridge Sakura was distraught. Kakashi had put a lightning encased fist through Zabuza's chest just a minute after Haku had killed Sasuke. As Sasuke had fallen she had seen her whole world fall apart. Her dreams were crushed and her heart was broken. So caught up was she in her misery that she could barely choke out a scream as Haku launched a hail of senbon at her sensei.

Kakashi was barely able to stand let alone deflect that many senbon that all he could do was give Sakura a bitter smile before closing his eyes, ready to embrace his fate.

Death never came though and opening his eyes he saw that someone had deflected the senbon, blinking he realised Naruto was standing in front of him with a sword, _"since when did Naruto carry a sword?"_, thrust into Haku's chest. He was holding the dead boy's body up and Kakashi could see the vacant expression on the Yuki boy's face before Naruto wrenched his sword out of the boy and let the body fall.

It was then that unconsciousness took the man.

Sakura ran towards the boy and began pounding her fists into his chest and screaming "Sasuke's dead! Where were you!? He wasn't meant to die! It should have been you!" he only rolled his eyes at the sobbing girl before pulling her off of him and slapping her across the face.

She was completely stunned by the action and it was long enough for Naruto to get a word in. "Regrettably, he's not dead. So can you stop your screeching because you're busting my eardrums. Go check his heartbeat if you don't believe me." Seeing that she was shocked into a state of paralysis, he dragged her over and dropped her carelessly on top of the Uchiha boy before observing the damage done to the bridge.

"Not looking too bad actually."

"_**I cannot believe you missed your chance to fight the pretender." **_Grouchy Kyūbi was back.

Suddenly he heard the sounds of cheers and clapping as a large crowd was running towards the bridge chanting "Naruto! Naruto! Naruto!" He blinked and scratched the back of his head.

"_Have I missed some shadow clone memories again or something?"_

"_**Nope. I don't have a clue why they are chanting your name."**_

It was then that he saw Tsunami and Inari running towards him.

"Do either of you know why these people are cheering for me?"

Tsunami smiled and swept the blonde into a hug. "It was the speech you gave your team about helping our people, Inari spread your words out through the village and then when bandits attacked those words inspired everyone to band together and fight for their homes! And apparently there was a massive explosion at Gatō's fortress, he is believed to be dead! Everyone thinks you are some sort of angel that was sent to save us!"

"...What?"

It was Inari's turn to hug him now, had he ever even spoken to this kid before?

"Naruto-nii! We've all decided that when the bridge is finished we want it to be named the 'Great Naruto Bridge.' Isn't that great!?"

"Uhh well I suppose that is pretty cool.. I haven't done much though."

"You've done more than we could ever ask for Naruto-kun" Tsunami whispered, hugging him once more.

Looking back at Kakashi's unconscious form and Sakura sobbing over an unconscious Sasuke, Naruto was just baffled.

Team 7 had stayed in the village a few more days to recover and watch over the building of the bridge before heading to the village. feeling a lot closer as a team.

* * *

Sitting in his chair with Kyoko stood beside him, Danzō stared down at Tera for a few moments, having just received his report of the mission success. It was the last part that had surprised both he and the Uzumaki woman.

"Great Naruto Bridge, you say? He's doing better than I planned." Kyoko only chuckled softly before turning and disappearing into the shadows.

* * *

**And there we go. I hope that went as well as I planned. Let me know what you think! I won't give anything away about the next chapter so until then!**

**Thank you again for the reviews, follows and favourites!**

**Winnieflutters**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

**Hello again! It's been a while I suppose but I've just kept changing my mind so much that I couldn't put a chapter up. I wrote 2 entirely different versions of this chapter but this one gave me more scope to change my mind about the plot later if I need to. After last chapter's Wave Mission- which seemed to be well received- this chapter will look at some character development within the village. **

**Just a few reviewer messages:**

**'wong jowo': Don't worry I wont be doing too much bashing, I just want to show that the characters develop. People treated Naruto very harshly in canon until he started doing the unbelievable and that includes Ino. I actually don't mind her character in general so fear not! She's in good hands.**

**'Friaku': Thanks for the advice on developing Naruto's character. It will take me some chapters but I'm working on it! **

**Thank you to everyone who is sticking with the story. Read on and I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"I just cannot get my head around it! ..Kyoko-sensei? Are you even listening to me!?"

The irritated blonde was lying on his back stretched out across the end of his sensei's bed whilst watching her upside down in the reflection of the mirror as she brushed her hair. He had always been mesmerized by the way the waves of red would cascade onto the floor behind her as she sat at the dressing table and there was something about the depth in it's colour that always captivated his attention when he watched her.

Eventually he managed to draw his attention back to his sensei's reflection and found that she was staring straight at him with a soft smile.

"What is there to get your head around Naruto? As a matter of fact I don't even see what there is to concern yourself with."

She was now running her hand along several small glass bottles of perfume, seemingly pondering which she would wear. Naruto knew that in the end she would go without as it was uncommon and incredibly foolhardy for shinobi to wear strong scents that could easily give away their location in enemy presence.

"You've spent all these years teaching me to be wary and then I find out you've been fraternising with the enemy!" He had flipped over onto his front by this point and caught her lavender gaze in the mirror once more, though she quickly broke it off and stood up to move over to her wardrobe.

Running her fingers over the many identical black kimonos that hung in the dark oak structure Kyoko-sensei let out a small snort and pulled a dress out at random. Slipping it over her bare form and proceeding to tie a gold sash around her waist she at last turned to face her interrogator.

"It is not fraternisation. It is a form of reconnaissance." The mature woman smirked at the deadpan stare the young boy was giving her.

"Oh don't give me that! You are sleeping with the Anbu commander! You do not need me to tell you how dangerous and potentially compromising that is to our security!" The Namikaze heir was pissed off. How long had this been going on for and why had he been none the wiser?

"_**You should not make out as though you are concerned for ROOT security- you only sound pathetic. You're just being protective of your precious clans-woman and we all know it. Admit it. You have always disliked the man and you can't bear it that he's getting a piece of your dear sensei's action." **_The perverted sniggering that accompanied Kurama's words only served to strengthen Naruto's dislike of the situation.

"_Could you please keep your dirty thoughts to yourself!?"_ The blonde briefly entered his mindscape to shoot the Kyūbi a dirty look but the expectant gaze he received in return only made him shuffle on the spot.

"_**So you aren't going to deny the truth in my words?"**_

"_Fuck you."_

"_**Hehehe so little Naru-chan for all his claims at strength and maturity is afraid of a little sexual intimacy! HA! It's no wonder you haven't noticed that little girls affections. Your sexual outlook is looking pretty bleak if I might say so." **_

"_I am not afraid!"_ It wasn't the concept of sex that bothered the preteen as his deranged sensei had long made it a part of his training to expose him to the idea as much as possible so that he would be comfortable enough to resist seduction later on in life. No it was about so much more than that.

"_Also.. what little girl's affections?"_ He had no idea what the fox was talking about as he was certain the young female population despised him just as much as the rest of the village.

"_**Exactly! Nevermind. It's not as if you would care even if you were aware. I'm just saying that maybe you need to open your eyes a bit. Your sensei is a damn fine specimen and it stands to reason that she would need someone to appease her, I hear it's the crazy ones that are really wild in bed and-"**_

"_-and on that note this conversation is over."_

"_**Prude."**_

Refocusing his attention on his outer surroundings he found that his sensei was now stood over him and had at some point tied her hair up into a ponytail. She was sharpening a kunai and staring down at him, though there was no malice in her features so he doubted she was going to attack him.

"Not that it concerns you but I could not possibly imagine sleeping with a man weaker than me. As you well know, I am an S-ranked shinobi. I also hold the second highest rank in the Foundation with Danzo-sama being the highest. Is it so shocking then that I would go for the Anbu commander? Besides, I really am information gathering. It is a lot easier to gain access to information when you have an excuse to be in the location the information is held. You know that. I'm a kunoichi and I am expected to use every weapon in my arsenal. Just as you are."

Throughout her explanation the displeased look on Naruto's face never once slipped. Everything about the situation rubbed him the wrong way. He had been taught to keep everyone at arm's length and this sounded like the exact opposite. He had no intentions of EVER dating because surely such a thing would require you to be in touch with your emotions? He was a ROOT shinobi and that meant emotions would weaken him. Sure he had loved and admired his adopted Uchiha brothers but that was different because they had a shared understanding of the world. Right? However much he hated it, when Danzō had ordered him to hunt and kill Shisui he was ready to perform his duties without a second thought.

A sad smile crossed the Uzumaki woman's features as she knelt down in front of the blonde, easily reading his thoughts from the confusion in his eyes.

"It seems I have trained you too well. I do not love Fox and I would rip his heart out through his throat without blinking if I had to. Tell me Naruto, how do you expect to fulfil your long standing mission to become Hokage if you are unable to separate your emotions? For me there is no correlation between Love and Sex and for you there need be no correlation between Love and Friendship. In the end it is Duty that will trump both. Your future is not meant to be like the others' in this organization. You will make a great many friends and perhaps you will find a great many sexual partners one day but you must never love. Never."

He had never experienced such an intense look from his sensei, particularly not from such a close distance. Her face was drawn in close to his and he could feel her warm breath on his skin. She never got this close to him.

"You are already dying slowly each day Naru-chan but be thankful that I made you numb to your fate. Love will only make it painful. Take it from someone who has been dying a lot longer than you and let themselves get struck by love."

"What do you mean?" He breathed out, seeing a flicker of emotion in her eyes that he had not seen for many years.

It was gone as quickly as it came though and the woman stood up and turned her back on him, as she reached the doorway she looked over her shoulder to fix him with a hard stare.

"You must go out into the world and make friends. I understand that they will never know the real you but that shouldn't stop you from knowing the real them. Friendship will serve you and your village well in the future. Isolation will not."

* * *

Leaving the blonde alone in her chambers to ponder her words, Uzumaki Kyoko moved gracefully through the ROOT base and smirked as she reached the bridge that led to the main exit, smiling as those who had been heading in her direction quickly scampered back the other way. Stopping halfway across the bridge she found herself thinking of another bridge she had stood on a lifetime ago and a bitter smile crept onto her features as she thought of her fallen clan.

"Uzumaki." She whispered. She stood there on the bridge for a few moments, thinking over her life before suddenly letting out a loud chuckle which rang out in the large underground room, much to the alarm of those around her.

"Uzumaki. Just another cursed clan." She whispered before continuing on her way, her face devoid of emotion once more. She had duties to perform.

* * *

Sometime later Naruto was jumping down off a wall into the Hyūga compound. He had thought long and hard about what his sensei had said to him and had decided he would try to make some friends in his generation.

Despite being in the foundation Naruto actually knew many people, mostly old war veterans, through his escapades with Danzō and he stayed in regular contact with all of them. None of them would run their mouths to the Hokage because 1. They would not hinder the boy when they could see he had flourished in the division and 2. The Sandaime was unlikely to ask random veterans if they knew anything about Naruto.

"_**Your status as a ROOT shinobi is actually a really poorly kept secret now that I think about it. EVERYONE knows! The Sandaime cannot possibly be unaware."**_

When it came to outsiders Naruto had been more than happy to keep acquaintances but hadn't really considered keeping friends. So here he was seeking out Hyūga Neji to try and befriend him. Having read the slightly older boy's file he knew it would be no easy task, but the Namikaze heir liked a challenge and genuinely believed that he could get along with the previous year's rookie if he could just get him to lighten up on that fatalistic view of life.

Entering the private training ground he was not surprised to find the other boy staring straight at him with his byakugan activated. There was a familiar sense of hostility in the air that almost made the Namikaze heir roll his eyes.

"What are you doing on Hyūga clan grounds Uzumaki?" Neji had heard of the village's resident troublemaker and would not believe the slightly younger boy had been invited on to the grounds.

"Looking for you actually. Would you like to spar with me?" He didn't react to the dark haired boy's suspicious, narrowed stare and kept his face impassive as he waited for a response.

"Aren't you this years' dead last? What hope could you possibly have in a fight against me?"

Naruto ignored the insult and began walking forward to close some of the distance between himself and the supposed prodigy before settling into his taijutsu stance 'The Dance of the Whirlpool'. He was very adept at using the fight style because he had been taught his kenjutsu style 'The Rise of the Phoenix' first. The Dance was perfect for someone who could already use the Rise because there were many similar movements which meant he could morph his movements back and forth between the two without having to compromise on speed.

This was perfect for Naruto because it meant he could catch an opponent off guard by suddenly unsealing his sword from his palm and entering the Rise, a style that relied on increasing the speed and unpredictability of your movements at unexpected times. It was a damn near impossible style to follow because decisions were made seemingly at random. He had seen Shisui and Itachi struggle against Kyoko-sensei many times because of it. He was very curious to see how it would hold up against the Byakugan.

"Why don't we see what fate has decreed then?"

Neji was intrigued by the fight stance the blonde had taken up, it was not the academy style and he did not recognise it, which was strange because his sensei was a taijutsu master and had shown the team many opening stances so they would know what to expect. He was still ready to refuse the spar invitation until he heard the word "fate" and paused.

"Fate. Fate has already decided the outcome of such a battle. You are a clan-less orphan and a sub-par Genin. You would be easily defeated."

Naruto didn't blink and held the Hyūga's gaze for a few seconds before replying.

"So show me."

* * *

The Sandaime leant back in his chair as he faced out over the village, it was another beautiful day out in Konoha and usually he would go out for a bit to show his face to the public and get some fresh air. Hearing as the file was dropped lightly on his desk, though, he spun back around in his chair to pin his student with a hard stare.

Now was not the time for walks.

"Jiraiya, what does this mean for Konoha?" The latest intel from his spymaster had been incredibly unsettling and Konoha was not ready for such a situation.

The Toad Sage reached forward to pick up his cup and take a sip of sake before responding.

"Konoha cannot afford to be implicated, sensei. We will have to eliminate any chance of this information getting out."

Puffing out a ring of smoke, the aged kage nodded slowly. There was only one answer.

"Assassination then."

A tense silence hung in the air between them as they considered the risky move. If an assassination attempt was failed then Konoha would be dealt an even heavier blow than if the incriminating information got out.

"We cannot just send anyone Jiraiya, I need a guaranteed death."

The sage nodded grimly. "Perhaps Kakashi?"

"No." The Sandaime had initially thought of sending the Hatake but there was too much risk in sending such a well known figure. "I need someone that, if caught, will be able to resist admitting a connection to us. If Kakashi goes and fails it will be immediately obvious that I sent a hitter."

Jiraiya was starting to understand where his sensei was going with that line of thought. "And even Anbu sometimes crack under intense pressure, as seen by some of the prisoners we have captured in the past."

The Hokage nodded. "We will have to turn to the Foundation. This is what they are trained for. I will have Danzō send his best assassin."

"Can we truly trust Danzō not to betray us?" The Sannin was not keen on involving the old war hawk.

Hiruzen let a bitter smile cross his features. "No. However, we can be damn sure he will not betray Konoha and any implication in this, even if he somehow pins it on me alone, will be bad for the village. He will not betray us on this."

Understanding the logic in his sensei's words, the Toad Sage nodded slightly.

"I wonder who he will send. They will have to be a damn good assassin."

* * *

Neji's eyes were wide as he felt a small trickle of blood run down his neck. Uzumaki Naruto was knelt over him with a kunai pressed firmly against his neck and was staring straight into his eyes.

At first he had been confident he would end the fight quickly but the blonde's movements were wild and hard to track. He had found himself constantly on the defensive and had been unable to close any of the blonde's tenketsu. It didn't help that the younger boy seemed to be getting faster and at one point was able to strike him without him seeing where the attack was coming from.

His mind was whirling trying to understand how this could have happened. How he could have lost to a dead-last? How had his all-seeing eyes been unable to see.

"Is it fate that you should die here Neji? By my hand?"

He felt the blade being pressed slightly closer.

"How?" The pupil-less boy choked out, feeling as though he were slipping into unconsciousness.

"Fate. That's how. I too believe that we are bound by a preconceived destiny. The difference between you and I, however, is that I also believe you can change aspects of it. Life is about choices. The only thing that is certain is death."

"I don't underst-"

"-You are hindered by your own fate because you choose not to deviate from the path set before you. You are miserable and full of hate because you have had the Caged Bird Seal imposed on you. That was someone else's decision that affected your fate. What are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know. I-"

"Nothing? Are you just going to give up and die here? It was a series of decisions that put the edge of my blade against your throat. Decisions on both of our parts. So tell me- what will you decide now?"

Neji was unable to find his voice as he was lost in the steely blue gaze that had trapped his own.

"The outcome of this fight would have been very different if I had succumbed to fate like you. I could have chosen not to train hard and to accept that I was nothing more than the village pariah who would just have to bumble along and hope my luck would change."

Naruto paused to see if the boy would interject but there was only silence.

"My parents gave their lives for this village and left me with a great burden that led the villagers to loathe and despise me, despite the fact that I am the only reason the village was not brought to the ground."

Seeing the confusion and slight hint of fear in the boys eyes he lifted the blade slightly and leaned forward to whisper in the Hyūga boy's ear.

"My name is Namikaze Naruto and I have the great Kyūbi no Yoko sealed inside of me."

"Impossible." The older boy whispered, disbelief evident in his features.

"Was it fate that my parents would die on the night of my birth? Was it fate that my own father would make me 'jailer' to a Bijū? Was it fate that the villagers would see me as an enemy rather than a hero? Was it fate that brought me here today? Fate that put this blade at your throat? Is it fate that you should die here?"

Neji was shaking slightly, unable to respond as he thought over the blonde's words. He was hearing his own long-held beliefs repeated to him but something did not feel right.

"Tell me Neji, is it fate that I should end your life here or is it fate that we should walk this dark path together as comrades. Taking however many wrong paths necessary until we find the one with the light at the end? Or are you going to give up? Is that your worth? To die a caged bird?"

The blade was once more pressed against his throat and Neji could feel the world spinning around him but yet he could not wrench his gaze from the endless blue one that pierced right through him.

"Choose now. What is your fate?

* * *

Walking silently across the open plain, Uchiha Itachi suddenly stopped and looked up at the bright sun at it's peak in the sky and found his thoughts turning to Konoha. It had been over 5 years since the massacre and he could not help but wonder how much had changed. Naruto was surely at Jounin level in ROOT by this point, Sasuke must be progressing well as a Genin and he imagined the two were probably best friends. It had been 5 years since Naruto had made him the promise to help his younger sibling so surely they must be pretty close? More likely than not they would be on the same team too, that would be really good for Sasuke as the blonde would be able to keep him grounded and make sure he didn't end up like Itachi- or how he perceived Itachi to be anyway.

He wondered who their sensei was and had to suppress a shudder at the thought of it being anyone like Kyoko-sensei.

Ah, Kyoko sensei- she would not have changed at all. Poor Naruto. The young blonde had not known the red-headed woman like Itachi had. She had always been a tough and sadistic sensei but Itachi was her favourite and she had been slightly easier on him than Naruto. He supposed it was because she did not want Naruto to slack off, despite how she treated the poor boy everything she did was to ensure he would grow up strong enough that he would not need her protection. She would never show it, but she loved Naruto like her own son. She loved Shisui and Itachi like they were family too but Naruto was an Uzumaki and she would not see him weak and defenceless.

Itachi strongly believed that he had done the right thing with Sasuke but often he found himself wondering if he had gone too far. He wanted Sasuke to strive to grow strong enough to protect himself even if it meant he had to manipulate him into doing it. Was that not the same as what Kyoko-sensei had done to Naruto? She had been deceiving the Namikaze heir since the beginning yet Naruto had turned out just fine and remained none the wiser. Sasuke would be okay in the end too, right?

"Itachi." He heard his travelling partner drawl out. "Something the matter?"

Tearing his eyes away from the bright blue sky he briefly glanced at the body his partner, Hoshigaki Kisame, was dragging behind him. They were currently bounty hunting to raise money for their criminal organization- Akatsuki.

He looked back up at the sun once more and a small smile tugged at his lips as a gentle breeze brushed past, lifting up his Akatsuki cloak to reveal his Konoha Anbu armour underneath.

"_You and I are Konoha Shinobi, I will always be Uchiha Itachi of the Leaf and you will always be Namikaze Naruto of the Leaf. We will always be comrades. No matter the distance between us."_

The memory of his own words strengthened his belief in his blonde haired brother. He need not fear, Naruto was his comrade and would help him protect Sasuke. Turning back to Kisame once more he nodded for them to continue walking but did not say a word.

"_I'm counting on you Naruto."_

* * *

"So then I'm standing there on the bridge and all these people are rushing forward and shouting my name- as if they were happy to see me! I don't think I have ever been more confused in my life. Considering my status in this village, I don't even get called by name all that often so it was pretty shocking for me. Then they go and decide they want to name the bridge after me and I just.. I just didn't know how to react."

Neji nodded in understanding. He himself had heard Naruto being called some rather unsavoury names when being chased across the village.

"That's quite the story Naruto-san, I must say my Genin team did not experience any C-rank mission quite as exciting as that during our first year. Though I suppose yours was actually an A-rank so you are pretty lucky to be alive really. "

After their fight the two had decided to get Neji's neck wound patched up and take a stroll around the village so that they could talk and get to know each other a bit better. Neji felt as though a weight had been lifted once he started talking with the Uzumaki-no- Namikaze boy and found that he genuinely enjoyed the blonde's company. It was somewhat unsettling that they were able to form a bond of friendship so quickly but Neji was glad for it.

"Yeah I guess it just wasn't my time to die, eh?" He nudged his new Hyūga pal and was satisfied with the soft warm smile he received in return.

They were about to round another corner when Neji suddenly went pale and grabbed Naruto's wrist, yanking him back up against the wall.

"What the hell was that for?" Naruto muttered, exceptionally confused by the disturbed look on the older Genin's face.

Neji simply tapped his ear so Naruto reached out with his senses until he heard the distant sound that was the cause of the abrupt halt.

Fangirls.

It was then that they heard the sound of someone darting down the alley they had been about to turn on to and Naruto's face lit up with an evil smirk as he saw the figure of Uchiha Sasuke shoot past them and disappear down another turning.

Neji was slightly perturbed by the calculating look in his new best friend's eyes but did not say anything and took a step further back as a horde of squealing fangirls rushed down the alley after their "Sasuke-kun."

Once they were gone Naruto turned and beckoned for him to follow him up onto a bin and over the other wall.

"I have an idea! Quick! Follow me!"

Neji was certain he did not want to go in the same direction as the obsessive girls but there was something about Naruto that just made him want to follow. His legs were moving before his mind was made up.

* * *

Kakashi and Gai were strolling lightly down one of Konoha's many main roads, Gai was rambling on about his precious apprentice Lee whilst Kakashi was reading his Icha Icha. Really Kakashi was thinking over the Wave mission and thinking how best go about interrogating Naruto on why he had a sword with him at the bridge. Thinking about the blonde only ever left him with a headache and no answers.

Sighing to himself he quickly leapt to the side on instinct as a small figure rushed straight between he and Gai, moving at an impressive speed. Kakashi caught sight of the Uchiwa fan on the figures retreating form and felt a pang of pity for his student.

It was at that moment that he heard the screaming horde's approach, they were pretty hot on his tail. He and Gai quickly darted further to one side as the girls plowed past, calling out to the object of their desires. Watching on amusedly he was surprised when Gai nudged him and pointed to a nearby rooftop.

"Is that not your student Naruto with my student Neji?"

Indeed the blonde that was causing him restless nights was rushing across rooftops towards Sasuke's location with Hyūga Neji on his six.

"Naruto!" He called out to his sensei's son. The blonde turned and gave him a two fingered salute and called back.

"I'm helping Sasuke! Teamwork and all that remember? Sorry I can't stop and chat! See ya!"

Gai perked up at hearing that and quickly called out to his own student.

"Neji! I see you are helping Naruto-san rescue his teammate! How youthful! I am most proud of you!"

The dark haired boy only rolled his eyes as he looked back and saw the pose his sensei was pulling in the middle of the street. Choosing not to respond he pushed more power into his feet to catch up to Naruto.

* * *

Shimura Danzō was incredibly bored with his current situation, he was at a garden party with several influential characters of Konoha. All of the clan heads were present as was the entire civilian council, the Hokage was running late but that was to be expected from a man with as much paperwork as he, not to mention Danzō's spies had informed him that Jiraiya was back in the village so he assumed an updated report was being given.

He only wished he didn't have to attend this event and could get on with important work, but that was the way with politics. There were certain people you had to please and certain formalities that had to be met. He himself was keen to return to the base and get an updated report from Kyoko, she should have returned from the Anbu commander's office by now and she never failed to bring back useful intel.

Why did these events have to be so boring? If he had to listen to one more woman drone on about how she was denied planning permission or whatever he might just club one of them with his walking stick.

It was as he pondered the satisfying sensation of clubbing someone that a figure leapt over the hedge and ran across the long table in the centre of the garden, knocking over glasses and bottles on his way. It was that annoying Uchiha brat.

"Boy! This is a private gathering! Explain yourself!" He shouted at the teen but was completely ignored as the boy disappeared from the garden. Mere moments later a large horde of squealing girls plowed through the hedge and charged after the Uchiha boy, some carrying flags with his face on and other's blowing horns.

It was this sort of behaviour which strongly supported Danzo's belief that the youth of Konoha were being allowed to run amok at the expense of the village's upkeep. Granted fangirlism was a thing that dated back even as far as his day but it was never so bad, he had noted that many in the horde were students of the shinobi academy and could not help but tut in distaste. He would raise this issue with the Hokage at the next council meeting.

He was surprised that within half a minute later, whilst everyone was muttering about what had happened and servants were hurrying around to clear up the mess, that his blonde protégé appeared through the hole in the hedge, letting out a long whistle at the mess caused by the horde.

Danzō shot the blonde a subtle glare in reprimand for the reaction and the blonde did not miss it. Bowing deeply to the people gathered, whose expressions ranged from intrigued to disgusted at seeing the Jinchūriki there, he cleared his throat before speaking out in his most respectful voice.

"Honourable councilmen and women, I would like to apologise on my team mate's behalf for this.. incident. As you can imagine, Uchiha Sasuke has garnered the affections of the young female population and is so overwhelmed that he is perhaps not handling the situation the best he could. As his comrades, we can only apologise for this mess and assure you that we will catch up to Uchiha Sasuke and remedy the situation."

He nudged Neji who gave a confused nod in agreement. "Yes.. Right."

Neji didn't miss the surprised look his uncle was giving him but luckily he was rescued from having to explain as Naruto pulled him off after the Uchiha just as Hyūga Hiashi was about to speak.

Nara Shikaku and Yamanaka Inoichi shared a brief look that was not missed by Danzō. He was aware that both had taken a serious interest in Naruto and this would certainly fuel their upcoming discussions. Ah well, perhaps it would be good for the blonde to have so many people intrigued by him. The Shinobi of Darkness mentally noted down those that had been annoyed to see the Namikaze and began thinking how the blonde could win them around.

* * *

Sasuke was extremely frustrated as he turned down another street to try and escape his fanclub, he had been at the bathhouse cleaning up after doing some training in the woods when he had been spotted going back to the changing room. It had all gone downhill from there. Usually they would give up after 15-20 minutes but it had been 40 minutes and they were not showing signs of relenting.

Just as he hit another corner someone leapt out from somewhere and clasped their hand over his mouth, he did not have the strength to struggle hard enough as he was somehow dragged through a wall into a narrow alley, his attacker backed right up to the far wall with him and he noticed a lock of blonde in the corner of his eye.

Before he could do anything else though, a Hyūga dropped down in front of him and knocked him out with a palm strike.

* * *

When Sasuke came to he found he was on a worn sofa in a small room and looking round he saw his dumb blonde teammate sitting at a table nearby playing cards with some Hyūga kid. Both turned to face him as they heard him groan.

"So you're awake then? It has been half an hour. Seriously Neji, the Gentle Fist is awesome!"

The Hyūga smirked and lay down another card before responding. "My clan are very proud of it as it has served us well all these years."

Sasuke didn't miss the stress on the word clan and shot the unknown boy a dirty look before turning his glare on Naruto.

"Where am I, dobe?"

The blonde didn't react to the name though Neji found himself offended on Naruto's behalf and was about to speak up before Naruto cut him off.

"Firstly, you are in my apartment and secondly, you are welcome."

"Welcome for what?"

"For saving you from those girls, obviously. They weren't going to come looking for you at MY apartment of all places so you should thank your lucky stars that you're associated with the village pariah."

Sasuke only grunted.

"_**Please just kill him." **_Kurama greatly despised Naruto's teammate and was always insisting that the boy was going to be like Madara. This worried Naruto greatly because Kurama had admitted that Shisui and Itachi were actually quite alright so if he said Sasuke was rotten to the core, Naruto was somewhat inclined to believe him.

"_I made a promise to my brother. You know that."_

"_**Yes yes that is wonderful and sweet and all but you need to kill that brat before he kills you! Mark my words- that boy is going to be nothing but trouble."**_

"_I have to try at least."_

"_**You have been trying for 5 YEARS! When will you give up!?"**_

The ROOT shinobi sighed and blinked realising he had done so out loud. Both Neji and Sasuke were looking at him to say something so he locked eyes with his team mate before speaking.

"Listen Sasuke. I don't particularly like you nor do I enjoy being on the same team as you. But it's still early days and we are going to be out there together for real one day. Fighting for our village and for our lives, that's what we signed ourselves up for. Can't we try to get along? For Konoha?"

"_**It won't happen. Not in this lifetime."**_

Naruto stared expectantly at the Uchiha but the boy only snorted as he got up out of the sofa and made his way towards the front door.

"I do not need you or anyone else hindering me. I have my goals and I don't need you to help me complete them. You're nothing more than a dead last that no one wants around and you'll die a Genin. So just stay out of my way and we'll get along just fine like that."

He let the door shut gently behind him as he stepped out of Naruto's apartment. Taking a step over to the balcony he leant forward onto it and stared out at the view. It had gotten quiet late and the village was settling down for the evening, he saw shinobi leaping across the rooftops and people returning home to their families.

A part of him wished he had the capacity to let people into his life once more but he would not be able to move on until .. until that man was nothing more than a cold body in the ground. He owed it to his family to restore honour to the clan by killing his brother.

He didn't have time for friendship.

He was an avenger.

* * *

Neji turned to face his new friend as the door shut and saw the dejected look on his face. Was this what it was like for Lee whenever he would reject his offers of friendship and insult him? He owed the energetic boy one hell of an apology.

"Well that didn't seem to go as you planned." He said after a few moments of silence.

Naruto's eyes met his and the crestfallen look was instantly gone, the blonde's features were completely devoid of emotion before he randomly leapt up and strode over to the kitchen area.

"Would you like something to eat? I only have instant ramen because ..well it's cheap and-"

"-Naruto. Was that the person I was just this morning?"

He was surprised that Naruto chuckled softly after a moment's pause.

"No. If anything I would say you were more like me, we were trapped in situations we never got to choose. We were cursed with a bad situation from the beginning and had to find the will to break free whereas Sasuke's world was perfect in his eyes until he had it all taken away from him. We were born with reasons to hate the world whereas it was his love that turned to hate and now he clings to it."

He was suddenly reminded of his sensei's earlier words about love. It really was a dangerous thing.

"Will you give up then?" Neji had seen the hurt on Naruto's face as the door shut, it was as though the blonde had forgotten he still had company and had allowed his emotions to show through.

In truth Naruto didn't give a damn about Sasuke, he was hurt because he was failing miserably at his promise to Itachi.

* * *

Sasuke gripped the railing tightly as he thought back to the fight at the bridge, Sakura was about to be hit by a hail of senbon and he had thrown her aside and taken the hit. Seeing her in danger had awoken something in him and he suddenly saw the world so much clearer.

He had awoken the Sharingan.

Then he had made the foolish decision to save her! Why did he care if she died? How could he have put his life on the line for the girl when he had not yet killed his brother?

He hated how weak he was. He was letting people into his life again. Learning to care for others, he had been willing to give up his own life for Kami's sake! What would his father think? He had sworn to avenge his clan yet he had almost lost the ability. All for one girl? Then when he comes to, shocked to even be alive, he hears that it was Naruto of all people who saved the day and became a hero in Wave. Just another reminder that he was still too weak to go up against 'that man.'

And now Naruto wanted to befriend him? He wanted to play the saint and reach out to him? No. He would not allow it. He had to get strong and he had to do it quickly. Glancing back at the door, however, he could not help but think that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have a friend.

* * *

Neji nodded at Naruto's words and stood up to leave.

"You must excuse me Naruto. I will be late for dinner if I do not leave now and I imagine Hiashi-sama will want to speak with me about earlier on."

Naruto leant his back against the counter and nodded.

"Sure I understand. Let me know how it goes. "

Walking over to shake the blonde's hand he smiled at the cheerful grin the blonde was giving him.

"I will. I expect to see you in the next couple days too as you owe me a rematch. Friend."

"You bet. Friend." Naruto's face had settled into a genuine and satisfied smile as they dropped their hands and Neji turned to leave.

As he opened the door he was surprised to see that Sasuke was leant forward against the railing outside and was looking over his shoulder at the doorway. Closing the door behind him he held the Uchiha's gaze for a second before nodding his head slightly and making his way home.

Watching the Hyūga walk off, Sasuke began to wonder how Naruto was even friends with the boy. As far as he had known, Naruto had no friends.

"Naruto." He whispered. Ever since he had been placed on a team with the boy he had found himself wanting to know more about the blonde, to know the blonde. There were times he would swear the other boy held back in their spars and he had noticed that Naruto would try to include him in conversation quite often. Why did Naruto want to be his friend?

Why did he care?

Looking at the shabby door once more and sighing, he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked off in the opposite direction to the Hyūga boy. He had a lot to think about.

Naruto stood on the other side of the doorway and sighed. He had known Sasuke was out there the entire time- he wasn't a Jounin for nothing- but had decided not to tell Neji. He was surprised when he heard Sasuke say his name. Perhaps the boy was actually considering his offer of friendship?

It was starting to get late so he decided he would head back to base. Naruto hated sleeping in the dingy apartment the Sandaime had given him as it reminded him of his life before the Foundation.

* * *

Sliding the door open to his sensei's office, Naruto was surprised to see Danzō sitting in the chair opposite her sipping on a cup of tea.

"Shut the door Naruto. You are being given an SS-ranked mission." His sensei was fixing him with a hard stare and although her tone held it's usual authority, by the way they were both looking at him he could tell this mission was of particular importance. SS-ranked missions were far and between.

The Kyūbi was paying close attention to the situation, Danzō rarely visited Kyoko's office so it was clear that there had to be no chance of the mission details getting out. Her office was the most secure place in the entire base to talk as she had many advanced Uzumaki privacy seals painted around the room, this mission was going to be the turning point for Naruto. Kurama just knew it.

Danzō placed his cup down and studied the boy for a moment before speaking.

"I won't beat around the bush Naruto. You are going to assassinate the Fire Lord."

Naruto found that his voice was caught in his throat even after several long moments of silence. Eventually he locked eyes with his commander and gave a sharp nod in understanding.

"Understood."

"_**Well I didn't see that coming, I must admit."**_

* * *

**Well there we have it. I know nothing exciting happened! But after the Wave Mission I wanted a sort of interim chapter. Next time there will be some more of life with Itachi, Naruto's SS-ranked mission and of course Shikaku and Inoichi's quest to find out who Naruto really is will continue. Let me know what you think and until next time.**

**Winnieflutters.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey everyone! I'm really glad the last chapter was well received and so I hope this chapter is just as good for you all. **

**Thanks again for the reviews and follows. Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

"_**Remind me again why we have these dinners? The level of awkwardness is astounding."**_

Naruto was currently having dinner with Kyoko-sensei and Danzō-sama in the red-head's office, it was an exceptionally large room and so there was plenty of space for her to unseal a long dining table for the 3 of them to sit at.

"_Is that really what you have on your mind at a time like this? We've been having these random dinners for years now and you know it's just Danzō's way of making himself seem human to me so I won't turn on him."_

Danzō rarely visited Kyoko's office, but when he did he would often join the two for dinner and use the time to question his favourite shinobi about his latest escapades. On this night, however, the 3 remained silent as they ate their yakisoba.

"_**Well excuse me for trying to lighten things up a bit." **_The Kyūbi had been mildly worried about his host as the boy's mind had been completely blank ever since he had been given the mission details. It was rare for a mind to be completely devoid of thoughts and it was somewhat unsettling that the boy wasn't even dwelling on the task assigned to him.

"_I don't need things lightened up, I need them clarified. I'm supposed to just waltz into the Fire Capital and take out the Fire Lord without even knowing why? Am I really just a mindless drone trained to follow orders?"_

Looking up from the spot he had been staring at on the table, Naruto locked eyes with his sensei. Placing down her cup of sake, she turned to Danzō and tilted her head slightly- gesturing towards the blonde.

The old man, who had been rather enjoying the meal Kyoko had rustled up, turned to meet Naruto's gaze and almost choked at the cold glare he was being pinned with.

"Is there a problem Naruto?" He said in an even tone once he had take a sip of his tea. "_Kami this woman makes good tea."_

"Yes. Why must I kill the Fire Lord?" Danzō noted that the blonde was gripping his chopsticks so tightly they were at the verge of snapping.

"Because he has betrayed your village." The war hawk felt a slight shiver at the killing intent the boy was unconsciously leaking. Glancing over at his second in command, he saw that the woman was pouring herself more sake and deliberately avoiding eye contact with the two males.

"_**Well there we go. Reason provided. Let's go kill some aristocrats."**_

"_It's one aristocrat and how can that be enough of a reason to murder the Fire Lord!?" _The blonde could not understand why this was happening. Konoha represented and protected Fire Country and the Fire Lord was at the top of the list of people that they protected. He was their Leader!

Kurama snorted. _**"Don't bother taking the moral high ground now. When have you ever needed more justification? Everything has always been about precious Konoha and whenever your superiors have told you that there was a threat you have taken their word for gospel and gone out to end it. How many Konohans have you killed because your village's survival supposedly relied on it?"**_ He paused to see if the blonde would respond but the guilty silence was as a good a response as any.

"_**With that in mind, what does it matter if one more person has to die by your hand in the name of the village? Didn't that Uchiha brat butcher his entire clan for the sake of this wretched place? You condoned that but you're going to get all emotional over some worthless noble? The man is no more innocent than you or I, it's high time you woke up and smelled the roses Kit."**_

Rising from his seat, Naruto nodded to the two other diners and made to leave the room. Neither pulled him up on his behaviour and both continued to eat as though he had not been in the room to begin with. As he shut the door behind him, the last thing Naruto heard was Danzō addressing his sensei, "so what of the situation in Amegakure?"

Had it always been like this?

He stood outside his sensei's door for a couple minutes just running his hand through one of the lit torches on the wall and found himself thinking about Shisui and the day that they had stood in that very spot. It was the day that he had told the older boy he would do what he felt was right. How naïve he had been. There was more evil done in the name of what was "right" than anything else.

"_**You're finally starting to understand." **_The boy had always had a good head on him in the Kyūbi's mind but there was some wisdom that only came with age.

"_Yes. It's a sad world we live in."_ It made him sick to the stomach just how twisted his world was and he couldn't help but wish it didn't exist.

* * *

Soon Naruto reached his room in the base and was surprised to find Tera leaning against the wall outside his door, waiting for him.

"Naruto-taichō, I know it is late but I had hoped to speak with you for a few minutes?"

Naruto nodded and beckoned for the Nara boy to follow him inside. Once inside the room, they both removed their shoes and sat down.

"So what's up Tera?" The blonde wasn't really in the mood to chat but he always made time for his squad, they had really come out of their reserved shells since being on his team and he didn't want to undo any of his hard work.

"I want to come with you." Their eyes met for a few seconds before Naruto understood just what the Nara was saying, he was actually quite touched.

"There is no need for that. This is a solo mission so I will complete it alone, how do you even know about it?"

The slightly older boy shifted in his seat before answering, "I was there when the ROOT shinobi in the Sandaime's guard reported to Danzō-sama. Naruto-sama! You have to take me with you. You are my captain and I will follow you to the death." The pleading look in the Nara's eyes made Naruto pause before responding.

"It's nice to know how confident you are that I will make it out alive." The Namikaze joked but Tera was still giving him a desperate look.

"You are the future of the Foundation, the future of Konoha.. of Fire Country.. of-"

"Okay that's enough of that. I am no one's future but my own. My life is bound to the will of the village- yes- but I am no Messiah. You, Hyo, Jun & Takeo are my squad and I would trust you guys with my life. I am going to return from this mission and one day when I am the Hokage, I will expect you 4 to guard my back as my personal guard. I know you want to follow me but I need you here to keep an eye on things while I am away. Got it?"

Tera wanted to argue but he could tell that his captain would not budge on the topic, he gave a disheartened nod and rose from his seat. Putting on his shoes, he gave a deep bow to Naruto and turned to leave the room.

"Tera?"

He froze in the doorway and looked back at his leader, the blonde was smiling at him and his blue eyes were piercing straight into his own hazel pair.

"Thank you."

"The only person that needs thanking is you Naruto-sama, I owe you a bigger debt than I could ever hope to repay. My life is yours now and although I cannot speak for them, I am certain that the other 3 feel the same. We will follow you to the grave and beyond."

He bowed once more and smiled slightly at the shocked look on his captain's face before slipping out of the room.

Naruto climbed under his covers and buried his head into a pillow.

"_Kami, everyone believes in me but me. I really cannot afford to fail, can I? What does fate have in store for me tomorrow I wonder?"_

* * *

It was almost time for him to depart. He had planned it so that he would leave Konoha in the mid morning and it would only take an hour and a half of non-stop running to get there. If all went well he would return to Konoha in the late afternoon/early evening and no one in the village would be any the wiser.

It was a warm morning in Konoha so he was jogging through the village with his shirt tied around his waist.

"_**Despite the odds, I actually have a good feeling we will make it out of this."**_

"_Well it's good for one of us to be positive I suppose. I'm just glad it's a warm yet peaceful morning in Konoha. I think this is how I want to remember the village when I die later on today."_

"_**You are not going to die. That attitude will only hinder you."**_

"_It's alright for you! You will simply reform and get to carry on as usual. Whereas I will be a cold body in the ground without any real achievements to boast in the afterlife!"_

"_**Yup and the first thing I am going to do is lay waste to your precious Konoha. Boy am I gonna enjoy myself." **_He was salivating just thinking about it.

Naruto chuckled. "_Knock yourself out. I'll be a dead man so the problems of the living won't concern me in the slightest."_

"**_This is why I don't despise you Kit. You've got a pretty good head on you."_**

"_Thank you." _Their relationship had always been like this, they were honest with one another and although they didn't always see to eye to eye it didn't affect their relationship in the slightest.

"Naruto?"

Naruto stopped and turned to the source of the voice.

"_**Oh not again. You seriously need a new jogging route."**_

"_If I make it back in one piece I will make it my first priority."_

He was now stood outside the Yamanaka flower shop and was having a short stare off with a fellow blonde.

Not Inoichi, but his daughter- Ino.

"Is there something you want Ino?" She seemed like she wanted to say something to him so he figured he might aswell give her a chance.

She was silent for a few moments and Naruto could tell she was having some sort of internal debate though he was surprised when she finally spoke. In a polite tone no less.

"I would like to apologise to you Naruto. For many things but, in particular, for that time you stopped by here to speak with my father. I was out of line and I judged you wrongly."

The blonde boy did not speak, shocked into silence. He had always planned to win over the kunoichi in his year group, as they would be just as valuable to him as the males later on in life, but he had not imagined he would make any headway so soon.

"I saw you chasing after Sasuke yesterday and I realised how childish I've been. I joined the academy because I wanted to be a kunoichi and make my family proud, but when I saw the horde of girls chasing after him I didn't feel the urge to join like I used to- I just felt ashamed."

Naruto still had not spoken so the young girl continued.

"After you left that night my father didn't scold me like he usually would whenever I slip up, he just shook his head and told me he had expected more from his daughter. I didn't know how to feel at first but I've been thinking about it ever since and I've been waiting for an opportunity to apologise for my disgusting behaviour."

She was starting to get slightly worried by the blank stare she was receiving but she was not done yet.

"I never made an effort to befriend you in the academy even though I knew you had no family or friends. I listened to what I heard other people saying about you without stopping to consider things for myself. I know that now and I know I can't change the past but I want to grow strong and become a kunoichi the village can be proud of and I want a good relationship with the shinobi of my generation. That includes you Naruto. Could we maybe try to be friends now? Or at least good comrades?"

Her speech was over and she waited patiently for the boy to process her words.

"I..uhh..sure?"

Ino beamed at him and was about to speak once more when she saw Naruto quickly lean back to avoid a kunai that whizzed past his face. She was completely ignored once the blonde turned around to greet the newcomer.

"Good morning, Anko." He grinned as his attacker strode confidently up to him, twirling another kunai in her hand.

Ino's jaw dropped once she saw the woman up close, she was a stunning purple haired woman of medium height and build and was wearing a long light brown trenchcoat, a mesh shirt and a tan skirt. Watching as the woman grabbed Naruto in a headlock and joked about something, Ino noticed that she wasn't wearing anything under the mesh shirt!

Granted the woman had a killer body but Ino couldn't believe any self-respecting woman, let alone kunoichi, would go out dressed like that.

"_She must be really promiscuous. How does Naruto even know her?"_

Anko seemed to have read Ino's thoughts from the expression on her face and finally released Naruto from her grip, standing straight to size up the Yamanaka heiress.

"So Naruto, is this your girlfriend? I have to say, I was expecting more."

Naruto didn't seem bothered by Anko's suggestion though and merely folded his arms, ignoring the deep blush on Ino's face, as he turned to address the woman once more.

"No. She's-"

"-Anyway, 5 lap race around the village. Just you and me. Anything goes. 5,000 ryō to the winner. You in?"

Ino was once more forgotten as the blonde grinned and nodded his assent.

"Okay! Ready? Set. Go!"

The boy spared the Yamanaka girl a small parting smile as he raced off with the scantily clad woman hot on his heel, hurling sharp objects at his form and shouting obscenities.

Despite being ignored, Ino felt that she had made some headway with the Uzumaki boy and was confident she would enjoy his friendship in the coming years. This was just the beginning of her taking her career path seriously.

* * *

His face was impassive as he stared at his reflection in the mirror, he was fully clad in his armour and had a blank mask resting on the counter in front of him. He had a spare sword that he would be using as his black-blade one could be identified to 'Tatsuru' who was easily connected to Danzō and therefore Konoha.

He stared deep into his own eyes until he saw the face in the mirror slowly morph into the face he wanted to see. The face of Namikaze Minato.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen was stood by his office window with his arms behind his back as he stared out over his home. Danzō had assured him that the Fire Lord would be silenced on this day and he found himself wondering if the assassin had left the village already.

"I wish it didn't have to come to this." He whispered to no one in particular.

He was the Hokage and it was his duty to ensure Konoha's continued existence. The Fire Lord had wanted to completely reform Fire Country by bringing all it's hidden villages together to form one military under the same banner, his banner. He was plotting to have all the villages destroyed and rebuilt around the capital and he had the delusion that Konoha would be tricked into overseeing such a change before also being dissolved to fit his desires.

There would be no Kage or Village Leaders. There would be only him and his generals.

No Konoha?

Hiruzen could not allow it. He would not allow it. The Fire Lord would be put down and his absurd plans would go down with him. The next Fire Lord would be kept firmly under their control, they had permitted the last one to have too much freedom. Anyone who believed that the Fire Lord was the one running Fire Country was a fool. He was nothing more than a pawn.

Konoha ran Fire Country. And the Hokage ran Konoha.

Turning his back on the window, Hiruzen moved over to the side of the room and let his eyes roam over the portraits of his predecessors. The Shodai had founded Konoha, the first Hidden Village, and the Nidaime had strengthened it's military. He himself had then gone on to create the brilliant illusion that Konoha wanted to promote peace and unity with the other villages. At last his eyes landed on the Yondaime, Minato had been the one to truly instil fear in the other villages.

He stared deep into Minato's eyes and it was as if they were coming to life in front of him.

* * *

Hatake Kakashi knelt in front of the Memorial Stone and thought once more of his old team. He pictured Obito bounding up to him to start a fight and tripping over his own feet. Rin would tut and kneel down beside the boy to see if he was hurt. Minato-sensei would chuckle softly before instructing them to gather round for instructions.

Minato-sensei. He could almost feel the man standing behind him at the Stone, hand rested firmly on his shoulder in comfort. In his stubborn youth he would have shrugged the man away and stormed off to be alone but now that he was older he would have greatly welcomed the company.

Konoha. Konoha had ruined his life. Despite it being his home, it had taken everything from him. His father had committed suicide when he was wrongly accused of failing the village. Obito had been killed because the village was at war and needed all it's shinobi. Rin- he had done that one with his own hands because she had become an unwilling danger to the village. Minato-sensei and Kushina-nee had sacrificed themselves and their son, Naruto, so that the village would endure.

Looking up to his right, it was as though the celestial form of his sensei was staring down at him, encapsulating him in his sharp blue eyes.

* * *

Namikaze Naruto stared into the face of his father, a man he had never met, and considered all that he had done for the sake of his village. Was he ready to perform this task for Konoha? Was he ready to kill the Fire Lord? He knew that the unreal face in the mirror would give him no answers but picturing it made him wonder just what could have been.

Unbeknownst to the Namikaze heir, his next words were being spoken at the exact same time in two different locations by Sarutobi Hiruzen and Hatake Kakashi.

Staring into the eyes of the Yondaime, he whispered to the unreal face.

"If only you were here now."

He held the man's gaze for a second longer before the image was gone and it was his own reflection that stared back at him. He could not stall any longer, he had to go out and do his duty. He could not risk being caught as Naruto though so quickly activated the seal that would change his hair colour and watched as streaks of colour spread through his hair until it was jet black, he pulled it back into a ponytail and allowed his bangs to drop once more. Looking into his own eyes, he focused on the Kyūbi's chakra and directed it towards his irises, smiling satisfactorily to himself as his eyes were washed over with a deep, blood red.

He lifted the blank porcelain mask to his face and strapped on his sword. Time was up. He had a mission to complete.

* * *

The cave was was dimly lit and many spiders could be seen scuttling across the cold and damp floor, two figures wearing dark cloaks which were adorned with red clouds stood in the centre of the room staring up at the ethereal form of their leader.

"Itachi. Kisame. I need you to go to the Fire Capital and bring in Settsu Genji, he is a member of the Fire Lord's court and he holds information that is important to me. Go now and do not fail me. Fail and you will know Pain."

"Understood, Pein-sama." The two chorused quietly, nodding at their leader. Satisfied that they would complete the task, Pein ended the technique and left the two alone in the cave.

"Fire Capital eh? We might see some of your old comrades Itachi. Excited for a reunion?" Kisame was giving Itachi a toothy grin that made for a somewhat disturbing sight.

By the time the shark-like man had finished speaking, the Uchiha was already at the exit to the cave.

"Come Kisame. We do not have time to waste."

* * *

The trees were a blur as he sped silently through the forest, there was no time to waste. He dropped down from the trees and knelt behind a bush as he sensed an Anbu patrol passing through, he focused on suppressing his chakra as much as possible so as to avoid drawing attention to himself. A confrontation with Anbu was the last thing he needed.

It was a lot easier to suppress his presence than usual as he had sealed most of the Kyūbi's chakra away from his access so that, if captured, enemy nin would be unable to get a read of that chakra and identify him as the Kyūbi Jinchūriki. He had enough of it in his system that the two could still communicate and to enhance his limbs, as his body was used to having a certain amount of the chakra flowing through it.

Waiting until the chakra signatures of the patrolling Anbu had completely faded, he darted out of his hiding place and sped off towards the Fire Capital once more. He had his goal and nothing would stand in his way. The Fire Lord would die on this day. Even if he had to burn the Capital to the ground, so long as Konoha was not implicated.

"_There is only the mission."_

He pushed more power into each step and was satisfied by the slight burning sensation in his body, he was getting pumped up now. Naruto and his worrying were gone. He was Tatsuru again. Naruto had time to question his actions. Tatsuru was only there to get things done. Naruto was Tatsuru and Tatsuru was Naruto.

The Fire Lord was a dead man walking.

* * *

Danzō watched impassively as Sai sparred with the agent codenamed Arata. The boy was showing promise but was not fully committing to each movement. He wasn't exactly holding back, he just lacked confidence in his offensive strikes.

Confidence. That was something his blonde protégé had in abundance. He liked to think that it was a skill he had honed in the boy but there was no denying it was something inherited from Minato. He only hoped that same confidence didn't get the boy killed too soon.

He had assured Hiruzen that his best would complete the mission and it was no lie, Naruto was the best assassin he had ever had in his ranks. His victims were almost always dead before they knew they were in any danger and Naruto never bothered with all that flashy jutsu stuff when it came to assassinations because he was trained not to take unnecessary risk. He was the perfect assassin; silent, quick and ruthless.

However, Naruto was not his best combat shinobi and Danzō was not so naïve to think the blonde would be able to avoid a combat situation. The 12 Guardian Ninja were by no means slouches, they were all high A-rank to low S-rank shinobi and even Danzō had been unable to infiltrate their group. Not to mention there were 12 of them! Nothing short of a miracle was going to save the kid.

So why had Danzō sent him then? It was risky sending a jinchūriki as it might seem suspicious that the Fire Lord's killer died around the same time as the villages demon host. The answer was simple really.

Danzō believed in the boy.

The odds were against him but the odds had been against him since the day he was born and he had prevailed so far. If the boy could succeed and survive this mission it would cement the old warmonger's belief that the boy was the ultimate prodigy child.

He would not fail. Konoha was counting on him.

* * *

He moved silently across the filthy water as he reached out with his senses for any sign of nearby presence. The sewers were silent, not even a single mouse could be heard scurrying along the walls, it was just him and for

* * *

a second he imagined that the entire city was motionless -waiting for him to strike.

Soon he approached the door he knew would lead him to the dungeons and he sensed a patrolling guard approaching. It was one of the guardians. Naruto was not surprised that one would be down here as the sewers and dungeons were obvious entry points for an enemy attack.

Unfortunately for the man, he was alone in the corridor with a deadly assassin. It was over before he knew it had begun.

A shadow clone dropped down silently from the ceiling onto his back and looped it's arms under his before locking it's hands behind his neck. Simultaneously, another had emerged from underneath him and quickly bound his legs in ninja wire. Before he could let out a single sound, his killer appeared beside him and delivered a heavily chakra-enhanced strike to the nape of his neck. Death was almost instantaneous.

Naruto instructed his clones to drag the body into the sewer and dispose of it before he raced along the corridors to find his target.

* * *

Hyo and Jun stepped aside as Kyoko-sama entered the room, wrapping her fists in bandages. She wasn't wearing her usual black kimono tied with a gold sash and was in her training clothes, which consisted of tight black shorts and black mesh crop top. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail and her face was blank as she marched towards the sobbing figure that was suspended from the ceiling in thick rope.

"Bando Rokurou, recently discovered traitor of Konoha. It seems you will be my training partner today. I hope they didn't treat you too badly in interrogation." The small smirk she was giving the man caused him to whimper even more as he tried to brace himself for the inevitable pain.

As she punched and kicked at the man's body as though he were nothing more than a punching bag, Kyoko's mind drifted to her 3 students.

"_Shisui-chan, how could you confront Danzō? I trained you better than that! I trained you to live and fight! If only I had been there to protect you."_

She ignored the traitor's pained groans as she slammed her foot into his ribcage, enjoying the sound of bone cracking under the pressure.

"_Naruto-chan, was I wrong to raise you the way I did? You're not ready for such a mission! How could I allow you to go? You must return to the foundation in one piece. I will march into hell and drag you back myself if I must."_

Hyo and Jun were deeply unsettled by the killing intent the Uzumaki woman was unleashing and they both grimaced as they saw her fist connect with the man's groin.

"_Itachi-chan. Where do I even begin with how I have failed you? I can only hope you are coping.."_

She struck the man in his throat and paused as he choked out his last breath, blood oozing down his face.

"Hmm, he's dead. Pity. I'm not done here."

She continued to beat at the man's dead body, feeling relief in each strike as it impacted with his flesh.

The 2 other shinobi in the room remained silent as they watched on, it seemed they weren't the only ones unnerved by Naruto-sama going on that SS-ranked mission.

* * *

They moved slowly and inconspicuously down the main streets of the Fire Capital, donning conical straw hats which shadowed their faces slightly. The city's inhabitants didn't pay much attention to the travellers as cloaked men were a common sight in the Capital and so the two were able to reach their destination untroubled.

It was a large but seemingly innocent building on one of the less populated streets of the city and two young girls were sat on the steps outside it, giggling and chatting cheerfully. When they saw the two cloaked figures approaching they stopped their gossiping and stood up to greet the newcomers.

"Greetings travellers. Welcome to Lady Kana's Tea House. Please follow us." They chorused as they each slid open one of the heavy set doors to the building and beckoned the men to follow them inside.

Neither spoke as they followed the two girls into the building though they were both thinking the same thing.

"_This is no Tea House."_

* * *

There were 2 on the balcony, 2 guarding the main door, 2 inside the room, 2 patrolling the nearby corridors, 1 dead in the sewers and 3 unaccounted for.

None of that would matter for the Fire Lord's life though. Naruto was already underneath him.

Between each level of the Fire Lord's palace were hidden rooms that were no more than 5 feet high which could be accessed in an emergency if they were ever under attack and had to hide the Fire Lord quickly. Very few people knew about these secret rooms, Shimura Danzō happened to be one of them. Though no one could prove that fact except Naruto.

It had not been easy for the assassin to get into one of the rooms though as they were protected by very complex blood seals, granted he was a seal master but you couldn't just click your fingers and expect seals to fall apart. He only had a small window of opportunity to get to the Fire Lord and had to waste several minutes unlocking the seals from scratch- as his was not one of the blood signatures keyed in. It was dangerous tampering with a blood seal because the there was a 90% chance you would blow yourself up. Especially with advanced seals like the ones protecting these rooms.

He certainly did not go all the way to the Fire Capital just to get killed by a mistake of his own doing and certainly not before he had killed the Fire Lord.

He hadn't blown himself up though and was now crouched directly underneath the Fire Lord as the man was taking a bath, with several very young girls giggling and splashing around with him.

Naruto took a deep breath and prepared himself for what he was about to do.

"_There is only the mission. Don't think, just do. Don't think-"_

"-_**JUST DO!"**_ Kurama was growing tired with all the stalling, he blamed it on Team 7 still. Old Naruto never used to hesitate so much. This one was getting blinded by emotions too often.

"_Okay I'm ready. Stop your whinging."_

"_**That's a bit rich. Stop wasting time and start wasting people!"**_

The 2 Guardian Ninja that were stationed in the room with the Fire Lord simultaneously rolled their eyes as they heard their master giggle once more as he placed his fan at the side of the bath. He took that damn thing everywhere with him.

"Emiko-chaaan, you are a dirty girl! Come closer let me-"

It happened faster than either of the two could react, they spun round at hearing their Lord's speech cut off and could not move quickly enough as a small figure emerged from under the Fire Lord, one arm pushing the man's head forward and the other slashing a slanted kunai straight through an artery in his neck. The Sixth Fire Lord would choke on his own blood before they could cross the distance to reach him.

They heard the murderer speak in a disgusted tone before vanishing the way he came.

"Fire Country will burn. Out of it's ashes the True King will arise."

* * *

He had done it. He had killed the Sixth Fire Lord and now it was a just a question of saving his own life, racing through the corridors he could still hear the traumatised screams of the girls that had been in the bath with the dead lord. Now was not the time to dwell on his actions, he had done the deed and had subtly pointed the blame at an outside party. He could not afford a run in with the 11 remaining guardians, they would kick his ass from there to high heaven -he had to run.

* * *

Itachi and Kisame were in the woods surrounding the Fire Capital making their way back to one of the Akatsuki bases. They had found their target in a room with several young boys at the 'Tea House' and Itachi had watched impassively as Kisame knocked the man out and tied him up. He now had the man draped over his shoulder as they walked through the forest, each holding a stick of Dango they had taken from a stall on their way out of the village.

As he took another bite of his Dango, Itachi was surprised when one of his crow summons swept down onto his shoulder and communicated silently with him.

Naruto was in the capital.

He knew it would be crazy to go back but he desperately wanted to speak with his adopted brother and get an update on Konoha, not to mention he had to warn the boy that Akatsuki would soon be coming for him. He decided he probably wouldn't get another opportunity like that and switched out with a crow clone, leaving Kisame to continue walking on completely unaware that Itachi was racing back to the village.

* * *

His heart was pounding as he raced across the back courtyard, he had to get out of there as soon as possible but he could sense 4 of the Guardians gaining on him quickly, leaping over a hedge he was barely able to duck the swift sword slash that came his way and his eyes widened as the blade narrowly missed his face.

Rolling forward and jumping back as a ball of fire landed where he had just been standing, he was unprepared as a figure appeared out of nowhere and grabbed him in choke hold.

He hadn't sensed the man at all.

He was barely able to slam his elbow into the man's side but was quick enough that the man wasn't able to secure the hold, giving him enough time to head butt the man from the front and spin out of his grip altogether. Before he could deliver a killing blow, though, the other guardian engaged him in a parrying of swords.

Naruto recognised her as Akimoto Reika, she was an S-ranked Kenjutsu master and had been a Guardian for 6 years. She was truly a force to be reckoned with.

"_Shit!"/_** "Shit!" **He and Kurama thought at the same time.

He didn't have time for this, the other 4 guardians were almost at the clearing. He had to do something to get out of this deadly dance.

"You're good kid. But you will die here, murderer!"

"I am willing to die to see the True King take his rightful place! Fire Country will fall before his might." If he was going to die he was going to make sure he kept Konoha out of it.

Using the Kawarimi to switch places with the other Guardian, who was still dizzied from the headbutt Naruto had given him, he smirked as Reika was unable to react fast enough to stop her blade plunging into her fellow Guardian's chest. By the time she looked up and withdrew her sword, the boy had vanished from the clearing.

* * *

Kakashi took a deep breath before striding up to the door, he had told himself he would leave Naruto alone during Team 7's week off but in the end he just couldn't resist the opportunity to try and spend some time with his sensei's son. He had been living his life full of regrets for so long and he didn't want Naruto to go out in the field and die before he had worked up the balls to really sit down with the boy and open up to him, to be the big brother he should have been from the beginning.

He was only slightly put back when no one came to the door- Naruto was clearly not in. Perhaps the Ramen Stand then? Or maybe the training ground? He would find Naruto and he would finally fill his role as big brother to the Namikaze boy. Big brothers were always there for their younger siblings, particularly in their time of need. Naruto would need help, he just knew it. And Naruto's big brother would be there for him when the time came.

* * *

Itachi was starting to panic as he raced towards the Fire Palace, an incredibly loud and eardrum-busting bell had gone off from the City's watch tower. The rule was that the bell would only sound if there was a great crisis in the Capital. As he reached the palace he saw 2 of the Guardian Ninja racing off to the northwest, looking ready for a battle. Being careful not to draw attention to himself, he sped off after them. Positive that the Namikaze heir would be right in the middle of whatever was going down in the Capital.

"_Naruto! What have you done this time!? You had better not be in trouble little brother, hold on! I'm coming!" _

* * *

"_I am in so much trouble right now! How the fuck am I gonna get out of this!? Kurama!?"_

"_**Don't ask me! I have no idea! You can't use my chakra because that will give your identity away, you can't use the Hiraishin because they are so close you can see the whites of their eyes and you can't rely on Fuinjutsu because we don't want them to think 'Uzumaki' which could implicate you later in life. JUST RUN KIT!"**_

"_Run. Got it. Running. Fuck fuck fuck.. I'm gonna die before I hit 13! Dammit!"_

He had 5 Guardians on his heel, 2 dead and 5 unaccounted for. It was not looking good, all things considered. He was running in the direction of Kiri to further eliminate Konoha from blame and was not feeling particularly confident that he would ever see his village again.

"_Screw it. This is what I was trained for. If I'm gonna die here then I had better take some of these guardians down with me. It will make it easier for the village superiors to place puppet shinobi in the 12 that will more willingly help control the next Fire Lord without raising suspicion that Konoha was behind the whole thing."_

"_**That's more like it. Let's do this."**_

The Guardians were shocked when the assailant suddenly vanished from sight and reappeared in their midst, delivering a wind enhance kick to the nearest Guardian, the attack hit the small of the man's back, breaking his backbone and as he fell his head smashed into a rock. His blood oozing across the ground.

"_**If that move didn't kill him, the fall would have done."**_

They were quite high up and with the surprise of the attack, Naruto was able to change direction and disorient his pursuers. But it was only a second before they were snapping at his back once more.

* * *

Shikaku took another sip of his sake and leant back in his deck chair, the sun was shining brightly in the sky and he found his mind turning once more to his young,enigmatic blonde friend- Namikaze Naruto. Turning to face his companion, Yamanaka Inoichi, he decided to bring up the topic once more.

"He is going to be great one day. There is no doubt in my mind." He whispered before taking another sip of his sake.

Inoichi knew immediately who his old time friend was referring to and found himself nodding in agreement. Sitting up in his own deck chair, he placed his sake cup down and met Shikaku's gaze with his own.

"I cannot understand how he came to be the way he is. I have studied people for years and, given his circumstances, he should either be full of hate or trying to hide behind a fake smile. Yet having spoken with him on many occasions, I don't believe he is doing either."

Shikaku nodded wisely along with Inoichi's words and also sat up in his deck chair.

"He's not a normal kid, Inoichi. He carries a heavy burden and I think that he more than any of us is truly able to acknowledge and embrace the cold reality of the world we live in. I don't believe he sees his burden as such and that he sees it as a responsibility granted to him. As you well know, he knows who his father is and so he knows what the man did to him. Yet he takes it all in his stride and is proud to serve his village? There aren't many that would react the same as he. That's for sure."

"Indeed, I see the logic in your words Shikaku but you once said it yourself; he is keeping secrets from us all! Despite his age he was able to successfully lie his way through the academy, who knows what his true strength is!? How can we not be alarmed by such a thing?"

Shikaku finished chewing on another kaki peanut before responding.

"Because it is our own fault for not seeing. Do not overestimate the boy, I knew he was more than he let on from the first day he stepped foot in my home. Do you truly believe that if he were not a jinchūriki he would be able to hide so much of his skill? He was able to go unnoticed because no one wanted to see him anyway. Of the few that really cared, they hardly had the time to keep a close eye on his academic progress. The Sandaime is obviously a busy man and Kakashi only cared for his well-being."

The Yamanaka took another sip of sake and leant back in his chair. "I suppose you are right."

Shikaku did the same but was not finished speaking. "Still, there is much yet to see of Namikaze Naruto and I can't help but think that he will be the next leader. It's still early days but I can see all the right qualities in him."

Inoichi snorted. "Don't get me wrong. The kid is well on his way to becoming the perfect candidate but he will have to win over the civilian population too and I don't see that happening anytime soon."

A smile lit up the Nara clan head's face as he looked up at the sun once more.

"Namikaze Naruto will make it. I just know it. What we need to do is keep a close eye on him and give him the support he needs."

* * *

He barely rolled out of the way of a Grand Fireball but was hit with a Flaming Meteor as he tried to steady himself. He was heavily bruised and his clothes were torn and bloody yet he found he was enjoying himself. He knew he was outnumbered and out skilled, yeah he was a Jōnin but these guys had years of experience on him, yet when it came down to it the Namikaze heir was proud to still be alive. As it stood, he was facing off against 4 of the Guardians and was just about managing to hold his own.

Kicking off of one of the flaming meteors, and absently thanking his sensei for her pain resistance training, he readied himself to exchange blows with one of the bulkier Guardians in mid-air. As their fists connected, the young boy was blown backwards and was about to impact with a tree when another Guardian appeared behind him and kicked him back towards the middle of the clearing.

"_Oh hell no! They are not going to ping-pong me around the field!"_

Performing a flip in mid air, he managed to dodge the several fire enhanced kunai that had been launched at him from another direction. Landing gracefully on the ground, despite his many injuries, he waited a second for everyone to be in landing and quickly ran through several hand seals.

"Wind Style:-"

"-_**PLEASE TELL ME YOU AREN'T ABOUT TO-"**_

"-RAGING HURRICANE TECHNIQUE!"

"_**KAMI ABOVE! YOU WILL DRAIN YOUR CHAKRA KIT!"**_

Rotating wildly away from his body, a violent hurricane burst into existence in the clearing and swept all the shinobi, bar Naruto, completely off of their feet and flung them savagely in all different directions.

Naruto didn't waste any time and summoned a Bō staff from his palm, he was no Bōjutsu master, but didn't want to risk anyone recognising his kenjutsu style at a later time if he somehow survived this encounter.

Slamming his staff into the nearest unbalanced Guardian's gut, he was satisfied when he saw the man choke out blood and fall to the ground. He wasn't dead. That is until Naruto charged the staff with chakra and slammed it down onto the man's chest.

He was dead now.

The blonde didn't have time to do anything else though as he couldn't react fast enough to a right hook headed his way and was launched clean across the clearing. Wincing as he smashed into the base of the tree, his eyes widened as he saw another woman charging at him with a battle cry and slashing wildly with a tantō.

"_Who gave these crazy bitches weapons!?"_

"_**Beats me. DUCK!"**_

Without thinking twice, the blonde dropped low as a Water Bullet shot over his head, he was about to engage the tantō wielding kunoichi when a hand suddenly shot out of the ground and grabbed his ankle. Using his arms to shield as the woman's sword came down on him, he quickly smashed his foot into the head of the ankle-grabber as it emerged from the ground.

Now that he was free he swept his feet under the woman's own which caused her to stumble forward just as he unsealed his sword and plunged it through her heart. His eyes widened though as she was able to drive her own sword through his shoulder.

Flinging the woman off of him he stumbled into the middle of the clearing and looked around wildly, he couldn't tap into the Kyūbi's chakra to speed up his healing factor and was starting to get light headed from all the blood loss.

If he was right, with the death of the woman there should be 2 of the guardians left. The one who had tried to grab him from the ground would be unconscious so that left one. Refocusing his vision, however, he mentally cursed as he realised he had forgotten the other 5 guardians.

He was surrounded. There was no way out. The 6 shinobi circled him with their weapons drawn and he almost chuckled as he heard the shinobi he had kicked in the face groan in pain from nearby.

It was over.

* * *

Itachi's eyes widened as he reached the scene and peered out from behind a tree, being careful to hide his chakra signature. His brother, who was currently disguised as a dark haired shinobi, was surrounded, heavily wounded and seemed to be losing consciousness. This couldn't be happening. He had to do something. But what!? There were 6 able Guardians in the clearing and he was a Konoha missing nin!

He felt the world come to a standstill as Naruto dropped his sword and fell to his knees with his arms raised in surrender.

It was over.

* * *

**And that's that! Let me know what you think so far and until next time!**

**Winnieflutters**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello all! It seems the last chapter went down a treat so I hope the next one does not disappoint, it is a second half to the last chapter so won't be a stand alone action-packed chapter. Just to respond to a couple reviews before we begin.**

**'Thoriyan': Thank you for taking the time to review. On reflection, I realised that my summary wasn't as clear as it could be and, with some much appreciated help from 'Friaku', I have changed it. I hope the story aim is a bit clearer now so let me know what you think! (Also your second idea was right, the aim is for Naruto to adapt to the outside world and rise through the ranks with his ROOT training to support him)**

**NEW SUMMARY:**

_**Without the Foundation the Great Tree would fall. In order for it to stand strong, changes must be made. Namikaze Naruto must battle for his own identity as he steps out of the shadows to bring the teachings of the Foundation to the very top. He has no room for weakness or hesitation. When you slit a man's throat in the name of the village, you do not falter. Even if it is your own.**_

**'Creations-Embassy': Thank you so much! Your review put a massive smile on my face. (all 101 times I read it haha) In all honesty, though, I think the quality of my writing needs to improve before I can even hope to get a huge following on here.**

**'jaeheejj': Thanks for reviewing! There will be no overt pairing but I am hoping to cover most the major themes in this story. So that's definitely a no but you can expect to see hints in that direction, I don't want to ignore romance as a theme but I don't want to go off on a tangent from the main story.**

**And that's that. I really hope the next chapter meets expectations. Thanks to everyone for the reviews and follows.**

* * *

He tried to remain calm as he peered out from behind a tree. Naruto was tied up in the centre of the clearing with several enemy nin surrounding him. The young boy looked like he had taken a serious beating and had a downtrodden expression marring his features that caused anger to well up inside the usually composed Uchiha.

"_This is not good at all. I can't afford to blow my cover but I can't leave him here to die. He's my brother."_

Dropping from his perch to position himself behind a berry bush that was close to where one of the captors stood, he fingered a kunai in his pouch as he tried to decide his next move.

"_Why can't you stay out of trouble Naruto!?"_

He felt his adrenaline levels rising as he prepared to go against the principles of the Foundation. He was outnumbered by several high ranking nin and the Namikaze heir was clearly in no state to fight alongside him. He knew his actions would compromise things but he would not leave his brother to such a fate if he could help it.

Nothing would stand in his way.

* * *

"Matabei we can't just bring him back unharmed, he thinks he can just show up here and do as he pleases!? We should teach him a little lesson before we drag his sorry ass in."

A woman growled behind the shinobi that had spoken and also turned to address Matabei. The apparent leader of their group.

"Let me have a bit of time with him first, Matabei. I'm still not over that trick he pulled on me earlier." She quickly got right up in the young boy's face as she licked her sword with a maniacal grin plastered across her face. The boy didn't react to her sudden presence though and it only made her want to hurt him even more.

Matabei, who was chewing on a toothpick and standing beside the prisoner, chuckled before responding. He barely got out a syllable though before a razor sharp shuriken planted itself in his throat. Blood sprayed out of his neck and poured out of his mouth but there was nothing that could be done. As he dropped to his knees the others took a moment to process what had just happened- yet again they were under attack.

The woman tried to grab the prisoner as insurance but before she could bend down to him, a figure appeared in front of her and leapt up to slam the heel of his foot in her face, sending her spinning and ultimately knocking her unconscious.

The unknown attacker then spun around to engage another of their group in a blur of quick strikes, the enemy nin's eyes widened as he took note of the familiar black and red pattern in the attackers eyes.

As he was forced to the ground by a heavy blow to his spine, he rolled over and stared up into his killer's eyes.

"Uchiha." He managed to ground out fearfully before his world turned to darkness.

The bound boy looked on in awe as his older brother ripped through their group like a hot knife through butter.

"_He makes it look so easy! Why can't I be more like him? He blinks and his enemies fall at his feet."_

Kurama didn't answer the blonde immediately as he watched the events unfold, he had once known an Uchiha that could have enemies at his feet in the blink of an eye and, as far as he was concerned, no good could ever come out of such an ability.

"_**Shouldn't you be focusing on getting out of these binds, brat?"**_

"_Oh shit yeah."_

Just as he was about to try and release himself, though, he heard the last enemy nin fall to the ground. As he looked around he saw that the clearing was sprayed in blood and his brother was fixing him with a hard stare.

"Naruto. Do you have any idea how much trouble you have gotten us both into? Has everything I have ever said to you gone in one ear and straight out the other?"

The Namikaze boy flinched at the tone the Uchiha was using but wasn't about to accept a talking down to that easily.

"Hold on a second! I never told you to interfere. That is a choice you made on your own. I was out of my depth, yes, but let's not forget that you went against ROOT Directive 2 of your own accord; 'There is only-"

"-The mission. I leave you two alone for 5 minutes and you somehow manage to completely balls up the mission." Both boys felt the temperature drop in the clearing as their sensei emerged from the shadows of the trees, pinning them to their spots with a powerful glare.

"Not only did you two completely ignore the instructions given to you, you've also managed to garner unwanted attention from a powerful enemy. Congratulations. Also, you've left one alive Itachi. Are you actively trying to incriminate the village or are you just stupid?"

The Uchiha boy shot a glare at the young Namikaze and winced at the insult from his sensei, she had never berated him before and he did not welcome the feeling that came with hearing the disappointment in her voice.

The two males remained silent as they watched the red head crouch down beside the woman Itachi had first knocked out. Neither could tear their eyes away as she grabbed the woman by the throat and dragged her into a standing position.

They remained impassive as seals suddenly spread out across her body and her eyes widened in fear as she gazed straight into Kyoko's sharp violet eyes. She found she couldn't control her limbs and felt as though she had been turned to stone.

"What have you done to me?" She choked out, feeling the grip tighten around her throat.

"I hadn't intended to kill anyone today but these two idiots have managed to screw up my plans and .. Well, I'm afraid we cannot tolerate liabilities."

Reaching around to grab the frozen woman by the hair at the back of her head, Kyoko got slightly underneath her and charged her own elbow with chakra before delivering an enhanced elbow strike to the petrified woman's chest.

She was dead within a couple seconds. That tended to happen when your head was separated from the rest of your body.

Tossing the head aside carelessly, Kyoko turned her back on her students and began to march out of the clearing.

"Let's go find Shisui and return to the village. You two have done enough damage here."

Itachi helped Naruto out of his ties but was taken aback when he heard the younger boy mumble out a guilty 'thank you'. Staring into the endless blue orbs that had captivated his gaze, he felt shame at the moment of regret he had felt when his sensei had berated him.

Naruto was his brother and he would always be there for him, damn the consequences.

-x-x-x-x End Flashback x-x-x-x-

* * *

He tried to remain calm as he peered out from behind a tree. One of the Guardians he had been following had gotten up behind Naruto and knocked the boy out before binding him in ninja wire and flinging him over his shoulder.

The other Guardians were gathering up the bodies of their comrades and Itachi felt a pang of sympathy for the group, they were not enemy nin. They were Konoha Shinobi who had been thoroughly disgraced on this day, and by a pre-teen no less.

He didn't have time to dwell on that though, his brother was being carted off back to the Palace's dungeons and he knew he had to do something to help the boy.

As he shadowed the remaining Guardians back to the Palace, he started to think about the days when he would go out on missions with the blonde and something would go wrong. The kid was a magnet for trouble.

"_Just hold on Naruto. I will get you out of this."_

* * *

The Sandaime nodded to the shinobi that had burst into his office with the news as the man stood panting in front of him, lightly fingering more tobacco into his pipe he lifted his gaze to consider the man still stood in front of him with a stupid look on his face. After a few moments the ninja finally caught on that the aged kage had nothing to say to him and so the young man bowed to his leader and left the room.

Hiruzen spun around slowly in his chair and stared out over his beloved village,

"Wolf." He called quietly. He waited a moment for the hidden Anbu to step out of the shadows and as he felt the presence appear on the other side of his desk he puffed out several rings of smoke before speaking in a quiet yet authoritative tone.

"Find Morino Ibiki and tell him to assemble an Elite squad and make for the Fire Capital. He is to retrieve and interrogate the Fire Lord's murderer and find out all he can about this rebel group that seeks to overthrow Fire Country."

"Hai sir" The Anbu codenamed Wolf responded before vanishing from the man's office.

Hiruzen was alone now and allowed a small smile to grace his weathered features.

He had been pleased with the report that the assassin was presumably a member of an underground cult, or something like that, as it gave him the chance to take out an enemy organization and make it look like he actually gave a damn that the Fire Lord was dead.

He only hoped Danzō's best was as well trained as the man let on, Ibiki was a man renowned for his skill in the interrogation room and it would not be easy for the ROOT operative. This is what they were trained for though and the Sandaime was feeling relatively confident that the assassin would not talk.

He had better not talk.

It might have seemed counter-productive that he was sending his best interrogator to question the assassin but Konoha had to look as innocent as possible, so he had a role to play in all of this and that meant making it look like he was doing everything in his power to exact justice on those responsible.

* * *

He was unable to control the shaking as she slapped him once more. Each of his hands were bound by chains attached to opposite walls, and his feet were firmly shackled to the ground. Above and below him the ceiling and floor were glowing a bright red as they were transmitting an intense heat that was intended to make him so uncomfortable he would talk.

As if. He was a ROOT shinobi. Torture had been a fortnightly Saturday morning ritual for him until he was 9. They would have to work a lot harder than that to break him.

His mind might have been able to withstand the past half an hour of torture but he was human and his body was growing weaker under the strain. They had sealed off his chakra and he refused to access the Kyūbi's chakra to accelerate his healing, which meant that the shoulder wound he had sustained back at the clearing was not healing at an accelerated pace.

It was agony.

Reika smiled as she saw the murderer wince. Grabbing his face in her hands, she stared straight into his crimson eyes for a few seconds, trying to get a read on his emotions. Seeing nothing but defiance in his gaze, she took a step back, smirked.. and spat in his face.

"_**Oh shit. She's gone and done it now."**_

Seeing the stunned expression on the prisoner's face, Reika let out a small chuckle. She had finally gotten under the boy's skin and she wasn't about to stop there.

She drew her face in close to his and her face held a satisfied smirk as she heard the boy grit his teeth, as if he were trying to hold back from doing something about it. What did the fool think could he possibly do? He was chained up and had his chakra sealed away. He was hers to play with now.

Reaching forward with her hand, she smothered her saliva across his face and chuckled once more as she heard the dark haired boy growl at her. She positioned her head over his shoulder and began to ooze saliva down the side of his face.

It was then that she brought her lips to his ear and whispered what she didn't know would be her last words.

"What do you say to being my little bitch for the rest of your short life?" She purred into his ears, but feeling a pair of incredibly sharp teeth sink into the side of her neck her eyes widened as he tore them out and ended her life.

Spitting out the flesh from his mouth, Naruto's eyes turned an even deeper shade of red as he stared intently at the door, waiting for his next interrogator. He didn't care anymore that she was a Guardian and technically a Konoha shinobi, she had pissed him off.

Namikaze Naruto was someone you didn't mess with when he was pissed off. Unless you were a certain sadistic Uzumaki woman, that is.

* * *

Sitting atop the rocky head of the his student, the Yondaime Hokage, Jiraiya closed his eyes as a soft wind caressed his face and tried to carry his spiky white hair away with it.

He had been searching the village for his godson for the best part of the morning but could not find the boy anywhere, Sarutobi-sensei had told him that Naruto mostly kept to himself and seemed to enjoy training alone in his spare time. Had it been maybe 4 or 5 years earlier, they would have had several Anbu patrols out looking for the Namikaze heir but Naruto was a Genin now and did not need to be babysat. He was free to go where he pleased in his downtime so Jiraiya did not worry too much about his whereabouts.

Sarutobi-sensei had let slip that Naruto knew who his parents were and it had stunned Jiraiya for a few minutes that the boy had worked it out so soon. That was the main reason he had gone looking for the young blonde, he wanted to announce himself as his godfather and finally try to do some right by the boy. Maybe teach him how to hook up with all the ladies..

Looking out at the distant sun, he began to wonder just how Naruto's experiences in the village had shaped him as a person. Was he the loud and exuberant type or the strong yet silent type? Did he have many friends? A girlfriend maybe? Several? What were his hobbies? How was he treated by the villagers these days? Had he won any of them over? Was he a 'by-the-book' kid or was he the adventurous risk-taking type?

Standing up to dust himself off as he prepared to depart his home once more, he voiced the question that summed up what he wanted to know.

"Just who are you really, kid?"

* * *

"You will answer my questions kid. Who are you!?" The man took a long, rusty needle and stabbed it deep into the shoulder wound once more, grinning as the ruby-eyed boy winced in pain. At the same time he forced the boy's head backwards and held open his jaw, poured scalding water into the boy's mouth as he repeated his question.

"Who are you?"

Naruto tried to shake his head to stop from gagging on the hot water but the man had a strong grip on his jaw. He was starting to get dizzy from the heat that surrounded him and could feel it burning through his skin as the chains began to feel tighter around his wrists and ankles.

Eventually, the man allowed him to lift his head but only so that he could receive a heavy fist to the face. A loud crunching sound could be heard as his nose was dislocated and he felt blood rushing down his face. Still half-choking and trying to gasp for air, Naruto looked up to glare at his interrogator once more.

"Who are you?"

Silence.

The man reached forward and pressed his thumb into Naruto's shoulder wound, holding it there as the dark-haired boy grunted in pain while he used his other hand to choke the boy.

"Who are you?"

* * *

Sasuke sat at the end of his bed with the photo of Team 7 in his hand, why had he even kept it? He didn't need a team, all he needed was power so that he could fulfil his goals. He couldn't resist a small smile though as he looked at the glare-off he and Naruto were having in the picture.

Could he call the mysterious blonde his friend? Their team was by no means perfect but on those rare days where they were able to work together, he had seen that he and Naruto could pair up well and get the job done. He even found that he would somewhat enjoy himself. Then something small and irrelevant would happen and that spark of friendship would vanish, as if it had never been there.

He cast his mind back to the night his own brother had murdered his entire clan and he remembered one of the last things his brother had said to him.

His brother had told him that to achieve the Mangekyō Sharingan he would have to kill his best friend. If Naruto was his friend then he would be the Uchiha survivor's only friend, would that not make the Uzumaki boy his best friend by default?

Could he really kill his best friend for power? Did he want to? Wouldn't that make him no better than Itachi?

Sasuke placed the picture back on his chest of drawers and walked out of the room as he pondered whether or not he wanted or needed Naruto as a friend.

* * *

Itachi moved carefully and quietly through the passageways as he tried to convince himself he was doing the right thing.

He had decided that he couldn't just burst in there and save Naruto, first of all because it would look bad on him if anyone spotted him there that he didn't manage to kill and second of all because Naruto had to learn from his mistakes.

Itachi couldn't always be there to hold the boy's hand and it was pure chance that he was there now, he would give the boy a window of opportunity and let the kid figure out how to escape himself. He had returned to the capital in the hopes of speaking with his brother and warning him of the Akatsuki but Naruto would just have to deal with that when it came, as soon as he helped the boy escape he wasn't planning on sticking around to chat as he still had to catch up to Kisame and switch back with the crow clone.

As he reached the corridor that Naruto's cell was on, he peered around the corner and saw two of the 7 remaining Guardians standing on either side of the cell door.

Now was his time to strike.

* * *

Naruto was panting heavily and was starting to lose consciousness in the heat of the small cell but he still had not spoken. The guardians were not trained interrogators and there was no way in hell they would ever be able to even make him think about talking with their gentle methods.

They had kicked him, punched him, burnt him, choked him, cut him and even tried half-drowning him. They just didn't have "it". There was something all good interrogators just had and they did not have it.

That didn't mean he wasn't feeling nervous though, there was no doubt in his mind that the Sandaime would send Morino Ibiki to take him back to the village for some serious T & I. He had spent enough time in torture training with his sensei that there was still no way he would talk but that didn't mean it wasn't going to be hell for him.

"_**So why don't we take this time to assess the situation, shall we?"**_

"_The situation is dire. There really is no better assessment."_

"_**You could get out of this if you tapped into my chakra, you know that. Your chakra might have been sealed away by a third party but you sealed my chakra away from yourself so you can unseal that chakra and bust out of here."**_

"_No. Too risky. There are guards outside the door that would be able to tell the chakra was demonic, it would be a different situation if I was alone but I'm not and I doubt they will be stupid enough to leave me alone. So there goes that plan."_

"_**What about that phoenix stone around your neck? You have chakra stored in there for emergencies, right? This looks like an emergency to me!"**_

"_I was thinking about that but it won't be enough chakra to fight my way out of here plus it would be the only chakra I had so after I'd finish fighting I would probably pass out from chakra exhaustion."_

"_**Hmm, okay how about this-"**_

The Kyūbi cut off at the sound of something heavy dropping to the ground outside the cell door, the current interrogator, who had been tying thin metal wires around the prisoner's feet- subtle electrocution was apparently the next method- suddenly jumped up and drew his sword.

Naruto watched on in mild interest as the Guardian moved slowly to the door and pulled it open, as he stepped outside and bristled at the sight of two dead Guardian's on the floor, a blurred figure shot past and slashed his throat with perfect precision.

The prisoner's eyes widened as he realised what this meant, he had his chance to escape. But who had come to help him? Or was it another enemy? He waited a moment to see if a friend or foe would appear in the doorway but none came.

Focusing inwards, he drew on the Kyūbi's chakra and took a second to enjoy the warmth of it as it spread throughout his body, accelerating his advanced healing capabilities and enhancing his limbs.

Tearing his hands from the shackles, he slowly made his way to the door and as he looked around the corridor for any sign of shinobi presence, he frowned to himself.

There was no one. Whoever it was had vanished from the area.

"_**Who cares right now!? Stop wasting time. We need to get out of here!"**_

"_I know! I just don't understand it." _He looked down at the dead Guardians and frowned once more.

"_**Now is not the time for understanding, now is the time for running."**_

Naruto ran his hand through his bloodied dark locks and bent down to take a sword from his recently deceased interrogator before darting off down the corridor towards the sewers that he had entered from earlier that day.

* * *

Itachi didn't look back once as he flew away from the capital on the back of a crow summon, he didn't know for certain if Naruto had escaped but he was confident the Namikaze heir would have made some effort to try and free himself.

A big part of him desperately wanted to turn back and make sure his younger sibling reached Konoha in one piece but Naruto was too old for that now. He had to stand on his own two feet and Itachi didn't want the boy to become dependant on outside help.

They were still comrades and brothers though so he had given him a small step up out of the hole the boy had dug himself into, but it was up to Naruto to climb out on his own.

They would cross paths again in the future and Itachi would finally get to see just how much the boy had grown over the many years they had spent apart.

"Do not disappoint me Naruto." He spoke aloud as he sped over the treetops towards the base.

* * *

Yamanaka Ino had a gentle smile on her face as she swept the floor outside her family's flower shop, she greeted her father as he crossed the street and made his way inside.

"I apologised to Naruto, father." She said cheerfully once he reached the doorway. "And he said we could try and be friends."

Inoichi didn't miss that her smile got slightly wider once she was finished speaking and that she had a slight flush to her cheeks, just what did the boy do to win his daughter around?

He nodded in approval to his daughter but didn't say a word as he brushed past her into the shop, his mind filled with thoughts of the Yamanaka clan uniting with the Namikaze/Uzumaki clans. Naruto was heir to two powerful but unfortunately deceased/dispersed clans and it would do wonders for the Yamanaka Clan if he could get the boy for his daughter.

What if Naruto really did become the Hokage one day? His daughter could become the Hokage's wife! Kissing his own wife on the cheek and proceeding to enter his office, he suddenly frowned as he realised that this was Naruto he was talking about. The boy had already said in no uncertain terms that he did not wish to marry or reproduce. The topic had come up one evening when he and the boy were playing cards in the office but Inoichi had not been so interested in the topic that he considered his daughter an option at the time.

Still, it was early days yet and a man could dream. Oh and dream he would, dream and plot.

* * *

Naruto clutched at his wounds as he raced through the trees towards Konoha, he paused behind a bush as he heard the same loud bell from earlier ring out in the capital. It seemed the remaining Guardian's had discovered his escape and raised the alarm. The Chūnin police on duty in the Capital would be issuing a lock-down on the village and no doubt the 4 remaining Ninja Guardians would be out searching for him.

He burst into movement once more as he pushed the excruciating pain in his body to the back of his mind, the Sandaime would be sending shinobi to the Capital to retrieve him as well and he was in no state for a fight.

"_**Talk about being between a rock and a hard place."**_

He quickly dropped low behind a tree as he felt several shinobi fast approaching, cautiously peering out his heart almost stopped as Morino Ibiki followed by the village's best hunter squad sped past the area with a deranged grin on his face.

"_Kami I am so glad I am not still in that cell." _He breathed into his mindscape.

"_**I'm torn between emotions. I would love to see that guy interrogate someone but I would prefer if it was someone other than my host. Anyway, you can't run back Kit, you won't make it to the base in this state. I think you should use the Hiraishin."**_

"_Are you crazy? What if I appear where patrolling Anbu are passing?"_

The main reason why Naruto rarely used the technique in the village was out of fear that someone would catch him using it and ask a load of questions he would almost certainly not want to answer.

"_**So just transport directly into the base. You're well within your range now"**_

Naruto sighed and took a second to think about it, he was within range as he could only use it risk free so far at about the length of Fire Country and it didn't consume too much chakra so he could draw on chakra from the phoenix stone to power the technique.

Closing his eyes and focusing on the marker he wanted, the young boy vanished from his spot and reappeared by the side of his sensei's desk, grabbing onto it to try and support himself.

Feeling his last bit of energy leave him as he glimpsed the surprised red head in her seat, Naruto dropped to his knees and fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

Blinking his eyes open, Naruto sat up in his bed and was slightly startled when something light hit him straight in the face, looking down at his lap where it had fallen, he saw that it was one of his t shirts.

"What is-"

"-Naruto! You have been out cold for an 1 hour and 12 minutes and out of the village for more than 4. If you think you are going to spend the rest of the day in bed then you are sadly mistaken."

Another object hit him this time, it was his pants.

Grumbling as he pulled himself out of bed and got changed, Naruto turned to meet his sensei's expectant gaze and frowned.

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

"8 of the Ninja Guardians are dead. That's quite an accomplishment for one Jōnin, especially a hindered Jōnin."

"I only killed 5 of them." Her eyes narrowed at hearing that and she tilted her head slightly before responding.

"Is that so?"

"Yes."

Naruto wasn't surprised that his sensei did not question him further, watching her stroll out of his room he took a moment to take a look at himself in the mirror.

She must have unsealed his chakra because most of his injuries were gone and he could feel the combination of his and Kurama's chakra working to heal him at an accelerated rate. One of the ROOT medic nins had bandaged his shoulder but it was easily covered up under his clothes.

Stepping closer to the mirror, he released the seal that had turned his hair black and he focused on flushing out the chakra in his eyes until they were their familiar ocean blue.

"_I'm lucky to even be alive."_

"_**You can say that again."**_

"_If there's one thing this mission has taught me it's that I need to work on my own strength. I've grown too reliant on having you there to boost my power. I also need to work on facing multiple opponents, it was embarrassingly too easy for them to take me down back at the Capital, I've spent so much time honing my skills as an assassin that I've left myself open to defeat in the combat area."_

"_**Don't be too hard on yourself Kit, there were 12 of them and I don't doubt in my mind that if it had been one on one fights you would have kicked some serious ass. You've just gotta remember what happened today and get your head back in the game."**_

"_I will never forget the beating I took earlier on. I'm supposed to be a J__ōnin and it's high time I started fighting like one. I will not allow that to happen to me ever again."_

"_**Oh believe me, it's gonna keep happening if you don't up your game brat. You've got this big mission to become the Hokage and change the way the place is run but do you really want it? I mean really? You can't be two people at once, yeah you can have different layers but you've gotta decide who you are at your core. Did Naruto get his ass torn apart today or did Tatsuru? I don't think it was either. I don't know who you were today but if you don't break free of all these constraints, you will never take that hat off that decrepit old man."**_

"_You're right. At this stage I have no freedom, I can't hope to grow like this. I need to start breaking free, only when I take that hat will I finally be free to be as I desire. Then and only then can I truly begin to serve the village."_

"_**Free from all your constraints but one; Konoha."** _Kurama thought to himself as the blonde left the mindscape.

* * *

Hyūga Neji stood in front of the mirror in his room and stared intently at the seal on his head, he had been stood there for a little over half an hour just considering all that had happened in his life and all that he wanted to happen.

"What will become of me?" He whispered to no one in particular. He jumped when a voice actually answered him.

"A bad case of Sasuke-ism if you don't stop checking yourself out in the mirror." Neji spun round to see his best friend, Namikaze Naruto, crouched on his window sill and giving him a huge smirk.

Neji smirked in return and moved forward to clasp Naruto's hand in a brotherly manner as the boy leapt down into the room and strode over to him.

"Speaking of Sasuke, he came here looking for you earlier."

Naruto had not been expecting to hear that.

"Did he say why?"

Neji shook his head and walked over to the table on the far side of the room to pour his friend a glass of water. Naruto accepted the cup with a nod and sat down at the edge of the older boy's bed.

"Uchiha aren't welcome on Hyūga clan grounds. He was turned away without an answer, not that anyone here knew where you were to begin with." He poured himself a glass of water and sat down beside the blonde.

"Anyway, so what exactly are you doing on clan grounds this time? Looking for me again?" Neji enquired as he watched the blonde sip at his drink. The Hyūga prodigy noted that Naruto was looking a bit worse for wear and he wondered what sort of training the boy had been partaking in.

"Of course. I don't know any other Hyūga." That was a lie. Jun from Naruto's ROOT squad was a Hyūga, but that was need to know information.

"Lucky you." he heard his friend mutter under his breath. Naruto grinned and was about to say something in return when a small girl burst into the room.

"Neji-nii! Hinata-sama is threatening to commit suicide in the Memorial Room! You have to stop her!" Tears were flowing down the young branch member's face but both boys didn't spare her a second glance as they darted out of the room.

Neji was so focused on reaching his cousin that he didn't hear Naruto's annoyed mumbling from behind him.

"It's just one bloody thing after another around here."

* * *

**Okay so.. what did you think? Not as much excitement as the last chapter and it is slightly shorter than the past few but I hope you still liked it. The next chapter won't be all about rescuing Hinata but I do have something interesting in store for you all.**

**Thanks again for all the reviews, follows and favourites.**

**Until next time!**

**Winnieflutters.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey everyone! Thanks for all the feedback on the last chapter. Before I begin I would like to respond to one of my reviews.**

**'lowgirl': Thank you for reading both this and 'A Petal In The Grass'! I will be writing several One Shots and I will continue to write Midnight Sun in a way that it can be read as if the One Shots were true. However, they will not directly influence the story in any way so I hope that's a good enough compromise for you. The Sakura in this fic will improve though, don't worry :)**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed and I hope you like the next chapter!**

* * *

The Hyūga compound was easily one of the most well designed places Naruto had ever visited and as he raced along the corridors behind his best friend he couldn't help but be intrigued by the mesmerizing patterns that adorned the walls. He only wished he could stop and really appreciate the beauty of it all. Passing another marvellously detailed tapestry, he frowned as he thought about the current situation.

"_I don't see what the big fuss is. They have another heiress don't they? So what if this one tops herself?"_

"_**You wouldn't be thinking like that if I destroyed your precious Konoha. You wouldn't say 'oh it's okay, there are other villages' now would you?"**_

"_That's entirely different and you know it."_

"_**What I know is that you are blinded by your devotion to the ROOT ideals. You will never be able to integrate yourself into regular society if you don't open your eyes to the way regular people see and feel."**_

"_She's worthless. The only thing valuable about her is the Byakugan and the village has plenty of Hyūga at it's diposal, we don't need shinobi that can't handle a little pressure. Her death won't have any notable impact on the village so why should I care?"_

"_**That. That right there has to stop. Your thinking has become too military, you're gonna get yourself caught out Kit if you don't start acting like you have emotions."**_

"_I don't need emotions. I-"_

"_**-Need a good kick. I'm not saying I give a damn about the little girl's pitiful life but I'm not the one trying to become the leader of Konoha. To do that you need people to trust you, to believe in you and to feel as though you trust and believe in them. Not just for their military worth, but for what's in their hearts- or some crap like that."**_

At last they descended the stairs into the large underground room where many of the noble clan had gathered to watch the events unfold, Naruto was impressed with how Neji's killing intent was rising as he saw that many were secretly whispering their hopes that Hinata would do it.

Naruto didn't follow his friend through the crowd, opting instead to lean against the wall to the entrance as he marvelled at the undeniable beauty of the room. Jun had told him about it before but words could not do it any justice, it was truly the purest place he had ever had the honour of visiting.

The light grey walls were lined with smoky white pillars that stood to atleast 18 feet high and the torches that adorned the walls held bright lavender flames that flickered as if some ghostly presence was keeping them alive.

The white sand beneath his feet spread out across the distance of the room like pearly waves and there was a gentle wind coming from kami knows where that caused it to swirl gently around the room. At last he rested his eyes on the main feature.

The lake.

It was large and circular to match the shape of the room and it's outer surface was detailed with hundreds of strange inscriptions in an ancient language Naruto did not know. It's calm surface sparkled as if there were thousands of crystals floating atop it, he suddenly felt the urge to look up and his jaw dropped as he saw a grand mirror on the ceiling directly above the lake. In it's perfectly polished reflection he could see hundreds of pebbles settled at the bottom of the lake which each had different characters etched into them.

Jun had told him about this, the characters were the names of the fallen Hyūga and the lake was viewed as a sacred place of reflection for the living to remember the dead.

There were water lilies floating along the the gentle surface of the lake and he remembered being told that the flowers symbolised the beauty of life- in that all that is beautiful must die. True beauty fades but that does not mean it is forgotten, just like the achievements of the dead.

In the centre of the lake a small stone platform floated above the surface and on it there was a purple fire burning in a large glass-like bowl. The fire apparently symbolised the strength of the clan despite it's losses.

Stood in front of the bowl was none other than Hyūga Hinata, in nothing but a sheer white blouse and white underwear, pressing a kunai to her throat and screaming something at her father, who was stood by the edge of the lake and trying to intimidate her into getting off the platform.

Naruto could not believe she would dishonour the dead in such a way. He mentally laughed as he imagined how the situation would be different if Hiashi were Kyoko. It was all too easy for the boy to picture the girl's blood tainting the pure, clean water.

Tuning into the conversation he realised he had never heard the girl utter two words before and was surprised to actually hear a hint of strength to her voice as she addressed her father. It was the hatred in her voice as she spoke that really intrigued him though, maybe the girl did have a fire in her after all.

"_**The Will Of Fire I believe the previous Hokage called it."**_ He heard Kurama whisper to him with a hint of reverence in his voice, the fox didn't really believe in all that stuff.. did he?

"Father. I have suffered at your hand for too long. We have all suffered out of some regressive dedication to our traditional ways. I cannot go on like this any longer, the clan cannot go on like this any longer. Today I will give back to the Branch family all that I have- my blood and my being. The Branch family has known nothing but slavery so that the Main family could live like royalty. Today I will spill my blood into the pool as a plea for forgiveness and a plea for change."

"_I hate stalling. She couldn't have left all this in a note somewhere? Though I suppose that would be less dramatic."_

"_**You have a heart of ice Namikaze Naruto."**_

"_And an empty stomach. Why won't she get on with it already!?"_

"On this day I want to offer myself up as a sacrifice so that our family can settle the bad blood between us and unite as one. For once the Main family is serving the Branch family. Listen to me Father! You must end this senseless segregation and enslavement. Unite the family once and for all."

Neji was being held back by two branch members to stop him from running across the surface of the lake to his cousin and Hiashi was frozen in place as his daughter's eyes pierced into him, asking the unthinkable of him.

The blade began to draw blood from her neck and Naruto could almost taste his lunch. Any minute now and it would be over, someone would stick around to clean up the mess and he could pay a visit to his favourite ramen chef.

It was then that Neji spun his head around to captivate the blonde in his pleading gaze as he called out to his one true friend.

"NARUTO! PLEASE DO SOMETHING!"

Hinata paused and her eyes finally found the boy of her affections leant against the rear wall, all eyes in the room turned to regard the newcomer and as she saw his ocean blue eyes drift from Neji's to hers it was all she could do not to faint there and then.

"Naruto.." She whispered quietly, though it was heard by all in the room.

The blonde was in shock as he stared into his friend's eyes. In them he saw hope. When Shisui had needed him he had been unable to do anything, when Itachi needed him he had been unable to do anything. Now Neji needed him and he was unable to move.

It was another second before his resolve came to him and that feeling of brotherhood he once shared with his Uchiha brothers returned to him. Neji was his brother now and he would not fail him.

He turned his gaze on the heiress and reverted to the authoritative tone he used as a Captain.

"Hinata. Enough."

Her hand had frozen in place and her eyes had widened at noticing his presence, she seemed to be having trouble steadying her breath and he took the moment to lean off of the wall and slowly move towards the edge of the lake where she faced him.

The crowd parted for the Namikaze heir and Hiashi's mind was a whirlwind of activity as he considered the recent development. What was the boy doing here? Why was he able to reach through to the man's daughter when he himself could not? What was going on?

At last the boy reached the edge of the lake and he briefly glanced at his own reflection in the soft ripple of the water. Kurama was right, this was part of being a leader and he supposed he had to practice.

"Hinata. You are strong in your heart but your clan needs you to be strong in your mind."

He reached out to stroke the water with his fingers.

"Not just your clan but your family." He felt Hiashi's eyes on him as he spoke.

A water lily floated past him and he smiled as it drifted closer to another.

"Not just your family but your village."

He looked around briefly at Neji who was watching the scene intently.

"Not just your village but your friends, and not just your friends but me. I need you to be strong Hinata. This is not the answer."

He brushed a bang out of his eye as he stared straight into her pupil-less orbs, reaching out a hand towards her he lowered his voice to a whisper but the hint of authority remained.

"If you want to make change then you must live. It is brave to be willing to die for what you believe in but true sacrifice lies in the willingness and determination to live for those same beliefs. Come down off of there and live for your beliefs."

His gaze did not once leave hers and he watched as she shakily tiptoed across the water and took his hand. She seemed to have forgotten that there were others present and was lost in his endlessly blue eyes as he stared down at her once she was on the ground.

Seeing the spark of hope in her eyes, the boy felt slightly guilty about his earlier sentiments and he found himself wondering if he could have turned out as fragile as her if he had grown up under different circumstances.

It was a chilling thought that he decided he would rather not dwell on.

He pried the kunai from her grasp and cast it aside as he pulled her into an awkward hug. It was then that she realised that she was in the arms of her idol, half naked no less, and turned a deep shade of red before promptly fainting in his arms.

Sighing as Neji rushed forward and took the girl from him, Naruto met eyes with the slightly older boy and smiled at the nod of respect he received before returning a nod of his own and excusing himself from the room. He was planning to get the hell out of the compound before the clan head caught up to him.

It was all in vain though as he barrelled straight into the man just as he reached the door, he looked up with a resigned sigh as the man beckoned for him to follow.

* * *

"I don't know what came over me sensei. I just walked to the edge of the lake and basically ordered her to get down."

It had been a couple hours since the suicide incident and after the long and rather enlightening talk he had with the Hyūga clan head, Naruto was certain that if he stayed anywhere outside the base long enough he would run into more trouble.

He had sent a disguised shadow clone to pick him up some food and was now relaying the day's events to his sensei.

He was perched inside a circular cut out of what his sensei called 'the wall of reflection'. It was a large red dusted wall that stood alone in the centre of what was known as the 'bottomless drop', a dark and seemingly endless pit.

Naruto had no idea what was down the large hole in the ground but what he did know was that not one person he had seen his sensei drop down there had ever been seen again. Kyoko had been fond of the wall for as long as he remembered and had threatened to drop him into the pit on more than one occasion.

At the present time, she was knelt in one of the cut outs below Naruto and was holding the ankle of a young bound and gagged boy as she swung him from side to side, chuckling at the sound of his muffled screams. From what Naruto understood, Danzō-sama had asked her to take on a new student and at first she had been impressed with the kid's quick wit, until he crossed the line.

Naruto didn't know what the boy had said to Kyoko but when he questioned Takeo about it the boy had turned white as a sheet and had been unable to repeat the words.

It didn't matter anyway. Whatever it was it had earned the kid a not too pleasant death.

Ignoring the muffled sounds of terror, Naruto continued with his tale.

"I tried to get away afterwards but Hiashi was already on top of me. That was a painful talk. First Nara Shikaku, then Yamanaka Inoichi and now I have a third clan head to add to my list of watchers."

He buried his head in his hands as his mind flashed back to the heated argument he had held with Hyūga Hiashi. He recalled how the man had lost his usually cool demeanour and had at one point slammed his hands down on the desk as he roared at the blonde.

He clenched his hair in his hands as he remembered mimicking the action as he got right up in the man's face and challenged his words.

He pressed his fingers into his closed eyes as he recalled the man breaking down in front of him right after attacking him. How he had shared deep and dark clan secrets with him which had shocked the blonde greatly.

He breathed out a heavy sigh as he was reminded of the deal he had struck with the man. How could he have been so foolish? How could he have gotten so involved with clan affairs?

Drawing his hands away from his face he looked at the spot on his palm where he had drawn his blood in order to sign an eternally binding blood contract with the man.

He had taken a serious gamble that he could not afford to lose. It went completely against his plans but he had let himself get caught up in the moment and put his backing behind an outcome he didn't fully believe in.

Leaning out from his perch he refocused on the moment just in time to hear his sensei utter the last words the bound boy would ever hear.

"It's a long way down from here. I'm sure that will give you plenty of time to think over the decisions that brought you to your early demise."

She let go. Just like that. She let the kid fall.

Staring straight into the boy's petrified eyes as he fell with a silent scream into the darkness, Naruto couldn't help but feel that he too had made a series of poor decisions which led to the fall he was currently experiencing in his life. He had to regain control. He had to claw his way back up.

As the boy vanished from sight he looked up to see that his sensei was crouching upside down above him in the cut out and was piercing her eyes straight into his gaze.

"Naruto. What have you done now?" Her voice didn't hold it's usual playful edge. The blonde gulped before responding.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen stood behind his desk as his eyes roamed over the 4 men stood in front of him. They were the last 4 remaining of the 12 Ninja Guardians. He was having trouble believing it.

If their story was true and 8 of their number were taken out by a boy no older than 13, the Sandaime Hokage had great cause for alarm. The assassin was better than he had initially imagined, which made him a high level threat because he was a shinobi under Danzō's control.

Was he the only one of his caliber in Danzō's ranks? This child? The boy had barely entered puberty and was already so dangerous that he could fight and defeat 8 of the 12 Ninja Guardians? Some of the best Shinobi Fire Country had to offer!?

He would have to die.

He was not under The Professor's direct control and was therefore a threat. The Sandaime's mind was made up, he would summon Danzō for a meeting later and tell him that the boy was a loose end that needed tying up.

Looking at the photo they had taken of him during his imprisonment, he found himself picturing the boy with blonde hair instead of black, loose instead of tied back in a ponytail, and blue eyes instead of red.. What he saw caused his chest to tighten and his arms to go numb, he suddenly felt as though he couldn't breath and found that his vision was blurred and that he was breaking out into a cold sweat.

Every person in the room rushed forward to catch their Hokage as he fell forward onto the table, the photo having dropped from his grip. Amidst all the panic, Hiruzen could not tear his gaze from the assassin's dead stare.

"_No..It can't be..Naruto?"_

* * *

For Shimura Danzō the day could not get any better. That interfering man they had allowed to be the Fire Lord for far too long was finally dead, his prized shinobi had returned to the village in one piece and the Sandaime had suffered a heart attack. Things were certainly looking up for Konoha.

His face wore a warm smile as he moved slowly down the main streets of Konoha, quietly observing the villagers as they prepared for the festival that would be held the next day to honour the Fire Lord's life. He frowned when he saw some small children preparing lanterns, another tradition was that on the night of the Fire Lord's death every village or town in Fire Country would release thousands of lanterns into the sky as a show of respect.

As far as he was concerned it was a stupid tradition that could set the bloody forest on fire and should have been stopped a long time ago.

The smile returned to his face immediately when he turned his attention back to his path, walking towards him with his head hooded and his hand stuffed in his pockets was none other than his favourite blonde.

The boy's face held no emotion as he walked alongside Mitarashi Anko, seemingly not paying attention to whatever she was rambling about. To an onlooker, it would seem as though Danzō and Naruto hadn't acknowledged each other at all, but as soon as Danzō had looked up they had shared a brief look which was enough for the old man to convey his pleasure at the boy's mission success.

He had been right to take a gamble on the boy, Namikaze Naruto would become a force to be reckoned with one day.

* * *

"-So then that Uchiha brat has the gall to come up in my face demanding to know your whereabouts. It's a good thing Kurenai was there because I would have shoved his precious Uchiha face up his rotten ass."

"I don't doubt it." Naruto replied quietly, glancing back to look at Danzō's retreating form.

"I wonder what he wants with you anyway, I thought he was supposed to be a broody loner?" Anko took another bite of her dango before turning to look at her silent young friend.

"You're missing some of your spark today kid. What you need is a stiff drink, let's hit the Red Light District tonight." Naruto gave a weak smile at the excited flames in her eyes and the bright grin she was giving him, one of her favourite pastimes was trying to out drink Naruto.

He was about to respond but paused as a loud bell sounded off across the village, causing him to freeze as he was reminded of the bell that went off a short while after he had slit the Fire Lord's throat.

He remembered the screams of the young girls in the bath.

He remembered the burn in his legs as he fled the scene.

He remembered-

"-Naruto! Oi Naruto! Kid!? What the hell?" He blinked as he was jolted out of his thoughts, Anko was standing in front of him and waving her arms wildly to try and get his attention back.

He chuckled softly at the confused look on her face before responding.

"Sorry I got carried away with my thoughts for a second. Sure we can hit up the tavern tonight but that bell was to announce that it's time for the Hokage's speech, so we will go to that first."

He chuckled once more at the annoyed expression that was now spread across his purple-haired friend's face and brushed a bang out of his eye as he eye-smiled at her and waited for her the inevitable argument.

"Oh c'mon! That is going to be so boring! Forget the speech, let's go get drunk!" Despite her protests, Anko knew it would be futile to try and convince the blonde to change his mind and quickly fell into step with her young companion as he turned and walked back towards the Hokage Tower.

Their friendship was a strange one, they had bumped into one another in a back street bar one night and had started to bond almost instantly. Anko enjoyed the blonde's company because it was so easy to forget he was 12 years old, he spoke and behaved like someone that had been in her line of work for a long time and she found she had enough in common with him that they were able to understand each other perfectly and get along like a house on fire.

* * *

The village was silent as everyone stood waiting for the Sandaime Hokage to appear and deliver his speech regarding the passing of the Sixth Fire Lord. Quiet whispers started to spread when he did not appear after 5 minutes, after 10 minutes the crowd was beginning to get restless and it only got worse when Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, the Sandaime's advisors, appeared in his stead.

They stood there for a few minutes waiting for the whispers to quieten down but when it did not happen, Koharu took a step forward and bellowed out, her voice echoing across the entirety of Konoha.

"SILENCE!"

The noise soon simmered down until nothing could be heard but the gentle sound of the wind as it rolled around them in the night.

"Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Fire Shadow of Konoha, suffered a heart attack earlier today."

That was enough to set the villagers off once more, panicked conversations broke out amongst the crowds and Homura and Koharu went unheard once again as everyone tried to digest the news. In the end, the advisors signalled for the Anbu to regain everyone's attention so, as one, they each ran through several hand signs before blowing streams of fire up into the sky that caused a pause in the noise long enough for Koharu to continue speaking.

"Fortunately, he has survived on this occasion and is expected to be back up and running in a few days. As such, he will be unable to deliver the speech tonight so we have decided that the 4 Ninja Guardians that survived the day's events will each give a small speech to honour Minamoto Akihito, our recently deceased Sixth Fire Lord."

* * *

"So the old man's finally losing it, eh? Looks like we're gonna have a new kage soon." Anko said in a disinterested tone as she continued to munch on her Dango. Naruto absently wondered where she was keeping all those sticks of Dango to begin with but he did not bother responding to her as he pretended to listen to the Guardian's speeches.

"_Eight dead. Eight shinobi of Konoha are dead and it's because of me. I know I didn't kill them all but that doesn't make me any less guilty, here I stand free as ever watching 4 shamed comrades of mine and I find myself wishing they were all dead."_

"_**Is that so? And here I thought you were going soft Kit."**_

"-I only wish I could go back in time and take his place. He was a good leader and it was not his time to die-"

"_I don't mean it in a malicious way. They are valuable assets to Konoha and I wouldn't want Konohan blood to be spilt unnecessarily, but they are still loose ends. I don't like loose ends, you know that Kurama."_

-The people that did this will have justice brought down on their heads, they will know Konoha's wrath and they will come to rue the day they sent their killer to the Fire Capital-

"_**Are you going to kill them then?"**_

Naruto had felt someone watching him from above and as he turned his gaze to meet theirs, he decided he wasn't in the mood for it right now. Nudging Anko, he kicked off of the wall he had been leaning against and the two disappeared into the crowd.

"_I don't know how wise that is yet, given the circumstances. I need time to think it over." _He didn't look back at his watcher and shoved his hands in his pockets once more as he made his way out of the area.

* * *

"You're late Kakashi." Kurenai chided as her friend dropped onto the roof beside her, Gai, Hayate and Genma. Asuma had hurried off at hearing the news about his father and she couldn't help but worry about her long time crush.

"Maa, I was looking for one of my students and forgot about the speech." Their eyes widened as they all realised Kakashi had given a genuine excuse for being late, something none could recall him ever doing before.

Maito Gai noted the slightly downtrodden look in his rival's one visible eye and gave the Hatake a slight tap before pointing down to a nearby street.

Kakashi could not believe it. There leaning against a wall beside Anko, of all people, was the boy he had spent the best part of the day trying to find. His sensei's son.

Naruto had his hood pulled up over his head but two of his blonde bangs could be seen hanging out, he had his hands in his pockets and one foot resting against the wall as he watched the Guardian's deliver their speeches. Besides him, Mitarashi Anko was chewing on some Dango and occasionally commenting to the younger boy.

Seeing his student with the woman made Kakashi realise how much he had missed in the boy's life, despite Naruto's age he stood only a couple inches shorter than Anko and had an air of quiet confidence about him that made him seem so much older. When had Naruto even met Anko and how had they become friends? Kakashi could tell they were close by their body language and by the way Anko kept leaning in to whisper to the boy- she was only ever intimate with people in an interrogative or threatening way, never friendly. It bothered him more than he would admit that someone else had such a close relationship to the boy.

He bristled slightly when Naruto turned to pin him with a blank stare. It didn't seem to hold any real emotion though, the boy was just acknowledging that he was being watched.

Kakashi frowned as Naruto turned away after a few long seconds and vanished into the crowd with Anko in tow.

Why was Naruto so against him? Back at the clearing all that time ago, the boy had opened up and revealed that he wanted to feel like he belonged but after that he never responded to Kakashi's attempts to get close to him.

Could it be?

Could it be that Naruto still resented him for the years of neglect?

* * *

"_Why won't that Hatake just get off my case!? Today has been a long day and I do not need him around to make it feel any longer."_

Naruto continued to march off towards the Red Light District as he mentally cursed Hatake Kakashi six ways to Sunday, briefly forgetting he had company.

"Why the hurry to leave Naruto? I thought you wanted to watch the speeches?" Anko had finished her dango and was now twirling a kunai in her hand as she marched alongside the blonde.

"Are you complaining? I thought you wanted to drink." he responded with a cheeky smile.

The poison mistress shrugged but didn't say anything more as they made their way to their favourite tavern, 'The Empress.'

Naruto wasn't surprised when he passed several of his classmates in the crowds. He saw Neji sittting with Hinata on the edge of a roof conversing quietly, he saw team Asuma in the middle of a crowd watching the speeches intently, he saw Kiba and Shino trying to get closer to the Tower but he only paused when he saw his own teammate, Haruno Sakura, standing alone by a wall on a less crowded street.

She didn't appear to have seen him but he was somewhat shocked that she would be alone, he had imagined she would be with her family. Something seemed different about his teammate these days but he couldn't quite put his finger on what. It was something to consider when his mind cleared up a bit, that was for sure.

* * *

Sarutobi Asuma burst into the room where his father was resting but paused in the doorway when he saw his nephew knelt beside the unconscious old man, weeping into the bedsheets. The boy's guardian, Ebisu, was stood over him with a serious expression on his face. Seeing Asuma enter the room, he knelt down to grasp Konohamaru's shoulder.

"Konohamaru-sama, we should allow your uncle some time alone with Sandaime-sama. Come let us get you some food."

The usually defiant young boy didn't argue as he was led out of the room but he stopped when he was just in front of Asuma and looked up at the Jonin with tear lined eyes.

"I don't want to lose my grandfather. You are supposed to be a protector, you have to protect him!" He was sniffling as he gave Asuma a pleading stare that was met with silence. Seeing that no response would be given, Ebisu pushed the shocked boy out of the room and shut the door behind them.

Sarutobi Hiruzen; The Sandaime Hokage, The Professor, The Monkey, The God of Shinobi. Despite his father's achievements, he was nothing more than a frail old man in a hospital bed now. Is this what it was to be a great leader? You had to give up everything, including your family, just to end up weak and defenceless before you were no longer of use to the village. They would drive him out of his position, there was no doubt in Asuma's mind about that. Then what? Would the old man expect all to be forgiven once he no longer held the Hokage Seat?

"How am I supposed to feel, seeing you like this?" He had grown to hate his father. He had never stopped respecting the man, only loving him.

Walking up to the man's bedside, he snorted as he looked down at the man's peaceful visage. He was about to turn and leave when he heard the man begin to stir. Watching as the man slowly opened his eyes and took several deep breaths, he expected his father to start begging him for forgiveness and to try and make amends with him.

It froze his heart then when his father locked eyes with him and finally spoke.

"Asuma. Please. I must .. I must-" Asuma passed him a glass of water and waited for him to collect himself.

He must what? He must apologise? He must tell me something?

"-I must see Naruto."

What?

Naruto? The man had almost died and instead of being glad to see his son again, he was asking for Naruto? It was enough to cement it for Asuma that his father would never be the father he wanted. Turning his back on the man and ignoring his desperate pleas, Sarutobi Asuma stormed out of the hospital room without once looking back.

* * *

Naruto took another sip of his sake as he leant back in his chair and listened to Anko tell him the story of one of her recent interrogations.

"-I am not kidding you! He starts confessing a load of irrelevant stuff and blubbering at me like a child. He actually admitted to being a cross-dresser! This huge muscular guy told me was a cross-dresser! Can you believe that Naruto?"

"That is brilliant. Almost as funny as that time you had a guy in who was convinced that evil chickens had sent him to launch a one man attack on the village!"

They both burst into laughter and grabbed two shots from the line they had made across the table, they were on their 8th drinks and were still holding up well.

"So c'mon Naruto, what's the deal with your Genin squad?" Even though Anko liked to have a good time with Naruto, he was her friend and she genuinely cared about his life.

He grabbed another shot, an action to which she mirrored, before sighing and responding.

"I don't know any more if I'm honest. There are times I think things are starting to work out but I've been wrong every time. Sasuke can't get his mind off killing Itachi, Sakura is having identity issues and Kakashi won't stop stalking me to try and make up for not being there or whatever it is he's doing."

The poison mistress nodded along to his words but decided to point something else out to the blonde.

"What about you? You're having your issues too _Jinchūriki._"

"Yes but having a functional team would really help with that. My main issue is trying to get acceptance within the village, that's not going to happen over night so for now I would like to focus on sorting out my team and winning over the shinobi population before I get to the civilians."

"That's understandable. It won't be easy though kid, I tried for ages before I realised things would never change and gave up."

Naruto didn't miss the sad look that crossed her features, leaning forward to stare into her eyes he whispered quietly.

"Well you see Anko, the thing is... You're not me." He quickly grabbed her fist to stop her punching him and let out a hearty chuckle at the annoyed look on her face, but her look settled into a warm smile as she reclaimed her fist and grabbed another drink.

"No. I'm better." She chuckled at the satisfied smirk the boy was giving her and wondered to herself, not for the first time, how she had come to find such a great friend in a boy half her age.

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke was anything but interested in the speeches going on as he pushed his way through the crowds, he had wasted the entire day searching for Naruto and was not in a good mood. It was night time now yet he had not found his team-mate, as he turned another corner he was surprised to see his other team-mate standing alone against a wall. He had gone to her home earlier to ask if she had seen Naruto but her parents, who were just a bit too pleased to see him, had informed him that she was not in. Naruto had to be around here somewhere, perhaps she had seen him come past?

Sakura had seen Sasuke staring at her but had decided not to rush over to him for a change, she had done a great deal of thinking over Team 7's days off and had decided to start taking her career as a Kunoichi of Konoha seriously. No more fangirl behaviour. If her and Sasuke were meant to end up together, then it would happen.

"Sakura, have you seen Naruto?"

"No." She lied easily, she had seen Naruto go past but this was the beginning of her not giving Sasuke everything he demanded. She had also heard that Sasuke had been searching for Naruto all day and after seeing the blonde go by looking somewhat fed up with the day, she decided she would not set the Uchiha on his path.

"Okay." Her eyes widened as she realised he had taken up a spot beside her against the wall instead of walking off. Why the sudden change in behaviour?

Sasuke had also slightly surprised himself by the decision to stay with Sakura, but if he was going to try and make this friendship thing work then that included his other team-mate. He would catch up to Naruto but now was as good a time as any to try and bond, as a friend, with Sakura.

Besides, it was almost time for the lanterns to be set off into the sky and he could just excuse himself to go home after to avoid going on a date with her if she asked.

* * *

Sweat was rolling freely down his arms.

Her breathing had become laboured.

He grunted as he began to exert more power.

She whimpered as she tried to withstand the added pressure.

He twisted his body slightly and it was over, Anko's hand slammed into the table causing chips of wood to fly everywhere and the empty glasses to smash as they toppled to the ground.

"YES!" Naruto yelled as he jumped up and fist pumped the air, laughing loudly as she groaned and let her head hit the table.

"That's another Flaming Dragon Shot for you Anko and another 200 ryō to me. Better luck next time."

"I demand a rematch! I know you cheated brat."

"I did not cheat and we're shinobi anyway, so suck it! No rematch."

"Best 3 out of 5?"

"Absolutely not. I would hate to take away any more of your money." Despite his words, the grin on his face said otherwise and Anko groaned once more as she lifted herself up to go down to the bar.

It finally hit her how drunk she was once she stood up though as everything in her vision began to spin and she vomited on the table before collapsing into it.

Naruto, who had just managed to step out the way of her puke, tilted his head to look at the hilarious sight in front of him.

"If only I had a camera."

Walking around the table to lift the intoxicated woman up, he groaned as he realised he would have to clean her off before carrying her back to her apartment.

Just as he was about to heave one of her arms over his shoulder, a deafening alarm began to sound out across the village.

"_Shit! That's the lock down alarm. Something serious is going down and I have to report to base, but I can't leave Anko here! Dammit."_

Naruto quickly slung the Snake Mistress over his shoulder and turned to leap over the balcony and down towards the exit before almost dropping his friend in shock.

What was Senju Tsunade doing entering a backstreet tavern in Konoha?

* * *

**Okay so that chapter was a lead up to even more drama in store for Naruto. I hope you enjoyed it, please let me know what you think below! Also, I will be writing several One Shots that, although they won't necessarily affect the main story, are set in a similar world.**

**The link to the first one is here: s/10288451/1/A-Petal-In-The-Grass**

**Until next time.**

**Winnieflutters.**


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